Undercover
by ronaldbiliusweasley
Summary: Hermione is undercover at Hogwarts, trying to get the story that will change her life. However, she never thought she would fall in love there, with her teacher! Ginny loves Elliot, but will her love for Harry Potter overpower everything?BEING REWRITTEN!
1. Back to School

"Brian, I think you must have gone insane!" cried Hermione to her boss. Brian, who was nearly jumping up and down in excitement, just looked at her. "Gone insane?" he asked her. "No, no, no, okay, this is a good thing. It will save both our asses from being fired and you'll be known as a great reporter," he said, trying to convince her. "No, I can't do it, okay. I just," she sighed, "I just can't go back to high school again. It's not like it was a nightmare or anything for me, but I was so happy when it was over, you know, feeling free, like you can do anything," she said. "I know, you're nervous, but all of the biggest newspapers will want you as their reporter after this report," said Brian, finally stopping bouncing on his feet to wait for her answer. "I don't know..." said Hermione.

"Come on, I can see the headline now," he said, putting his arm around her shoulder and using his hand to make a fake headline in the air. " 'Hermione Granger's in Depth Report on what High School Students are Really Like'. Think of all the publicity you'll get!" he said. Hermione, for a moment, imagined herself being interviewed on TV, meeting other famous writers, living in a big mansion with waiters and servants, but then, unfortunately, she had to go back to reality. Brian was still looking at her. For a moment, Hermione considered again saying no, but then thought of the life of a big-time reporter. "Fine," she said. Brian cheered. "Yes!" he yelled. "All right, all right," said Hermione, as Brian did a victory dance. "Sometimes I think you're gay," she said, smiling at him. Brian stopped dancing at once, his face becoming pink. "Uh, so, you'll be enrolled at Hogwarts prep. School starts on September 1st, and you'll..." he began, but Hermione had cut him off. "That's only 2 days away! Wait a minute, a whole year?!" she nearly screamed. Brian just looked at her. "Hermione, being an investigative reporter requires time and effort. Now do you want to do this, or do we have to get Lavender out there to do it?" asked Brian, pointing to the small, very beautiful woman who was filing papers at her desk on the other side of the glass. "No, she can't count to 10!" said Hermione. "Okay, then, let's get started," said Brian.

Just then, the door of his office flew open, and there stood a woman of 30 whom was very beautiful. She had a soft face, brown, curly hair, shiny, white teeth, and her figure was slim and slender. Her name was Anita Epsey. "Guess who I slept with?" she cried. Apart from being rather smart and a great reporter and a usually nice person, Anita was also partially addicted to one thing: sex. "Hmm...Gary Brooks?" asked Hermione. "Oh, who told you?" she asked. "You did. You told me yesterday you were going to sleep with him," said Hermione. "Oh damn, I wanted it to be a surprise," said Anita, shutting the door behind her. "A surprise? I wouldn't be surprised if you had already slept with half of California," said Brian. Anita spared him a glare before turning back to Hermione. "So, Gary has a friend, single, good-looking, hot body, I think you should date him," she said, smiling at Hermione. "No thanks," said Hermione. "Oh, come on, he's hot," said Anita, as if that was the only quality Hermione would care about. "I don't have sex with guys just because they're hot," said Hermione. "What, and you think I do?" asked Anita. "Sometimes," said Hermione. "Fine, if thats what you really think of me, then I'm leaving," said Anita, turning to the door.

"Hang on, I need your help with something," said Hermione. "What?" asked Anita, turning back. "I need an outift to wear on my first day of school," said Hermione. "School? Honey, you're 25, and I thought you already went to college," said Anita. "She's not going back to college, she's going to Hogwarts prep to do a report on high school students," blurted out Brian. Anita's mouth formed an O. "That's great, there are so many hot guys in high school. Hot teenage guys who are always willing," said Anita. "Thanks, but I'd rather go there to report, not for the guys," said Hermione. "You don't know what you're doing, honey," said Anita. The door came open again and this time a man came in. It was Brian's assistant, Alex. He was a handsome man who Anita admitted she would've had sex with, except there was the matter that he was gay. "Mr. Marano, a letter came for you," he said, handing Brian an envelope. "I told you to call me Brian," said Brian, taking the letter from Alex. Alex smiled a sexy smile at him. Brian smiled back, and Alex left the room. Anita and Hermione were staring at Brian. He was still looking at the door. The he noticed them. "Get out of my office," he said harshly.

--

September 1st came all too quickly. Hermione woke up the morning of at 6 AM. Anita and Hermione had went out shopping the day before. They had spent hours and hours shopping, going from store to store, carrying bags out to Anita's car. Anita had gotten a check from her father and used nearly all the money on Hermione, buying clothes and makeup and shoes. She refused to allow Hermione to pay her back, saying she could just get another check from her daddy. She reminded Hermione so much of a spoiled rich teenager it was funny. She had also let Hermione borrow her car, which was an equally gorgeous red convertible. Anita's parents were rich snobs, but they still bought their daughter things. Hermione had packed all of her things quickly. When Hermione had come back from shopping, she had realized she had gotten 10 pairs of designer jeans, nearly 30 tank tops and blouses, 12 pairs of shoes, and over 200 worth of makeup. Hermione had trouble shoving all of her belongings into her suitcases. Having already paid for her apartment for another year, she had no other choice but to rent it to Anita, who would use it for strictly sex-purposes (which she explained in detail to Hermione).

Hermione slipped the jeans over her skinny legs and pulled the blouse over her head. She took a moment to take in her features. She was very skinny, with a beautiful face, and brown, curly hair. She had her ears pierced and her hair was pulled up in a very neat but messy looking ponytail. Hermione's suitcases were already in the car. She grabbed her car keys. Brian was already waiting for her outside. His car was next to hers. "What?" she asked. "Now, do you have your journal, your cell phone, your..." he said. "Yes, I double checked, I have everything," said Hermione. "Alright, I want to hear from you in a week," said Brian. "Okay, it's not like I can go out of the stupid school. You just had to pick a prep school, didn't you?" said Hermione. "I thought by staying there you would get a better perspective," said Brian. "I've got to go, I'm supposed to be there in an hour and it's a 45-minute drive," said Hermione. "Don't forget everything I told you," said Brian. "I know," said Hermione. Brian had lectured her for nearly an hour on how to act, what types of stories to get, and who to hang out with. Hermione had only half listened, really only concerned for what her first day was going to be late.

Hermione got into her car, and put the roof down. She pulled out of the parking lot and began driving to Hogwarts. She turned on the radio and listened to Metro Station-Shake It. For nearly an hour she drove, the last 10 minutes seeing nothing except woods and fields of nothing. Finally, she got off the dirt road she had been traveling on for 10 minutes and got onto a blacktop road. The school stood up on a big hill. The student parking lot was off to the right of the school. Hermione parked her car and got out. She realized she only had 15 minutes to get inside and she still had to get all of her suitcases. She lifted one out of the car.

"Need some help?" came a voice from behind her. Hermione turned. A girl was getting out of her car. She had flaming red hair and was very beautiful. A man was getting out of the driver's seat, and Hermione knew she had never such a handsome man before. He had the same color hair as her, except i was shorter. He had very light freckles on his face and arms, and he was very slim. "Ginny, hurry up, we haven't got much time," he said in his sexy voice. Ginny turned to him. "I'll catch up to you, just go, Ron," said Ginny. Ron took his bag and walked out of the parking lot. Hermione stared at him walking away before she turned back to Ginny. "Hi, I'm Ginny," she said. "I'm Hermione, er, who's that?" she asked Ginny. "My brother, complete idiot, if you ask me," she said. "Oh, yes, sure," said Hermione, although she completely disagreed.

"Here, I'll help you," said Ginny. "Oh, thanks," said Hermione. Ginny grabbed one suitcase while Hermione grabbed the other and her purse. She guessed Ginny and Ron had already gotten their stuff. "You must be knew, I've never seen you here," said Ginny as they walked out of the parking lot and towards the entrance of the school. "Oh, yes, I'm new," said Hermione. "I'm so excited, I'm finally a senior, junior year felt like forever. So I'm guessing you're a senior too," said Ginny. "Yes, I am. So how do the sleeping arrangements work? I've only ever gone to public schools and we stayed at home in those," asked Hermione. "Well, two people sleep in a room, only same sex though," added Ginny. "So, do we get to pick who we room up with?"asked Hermione. "Yes. You know you can room with me, my friend who was going to room with me decided to go to public school yesterday, needless to say I was pretty pissed," she said.

"Sure, that sounds great," said Hermione, happy to make a friend that quickly. Hermione then realized just how far away the parking lot was from the school. It was nearly a quarter of a mile away from the school. Around the school were trees with a ton of shade under them, good for reading or doing homework, and to Hermione's surprise, on the other side of the school, there was a large lake that looked sparkling clean. "Wow, can we swim in that?" asked Hermione, never having seen a school with any body of water near it. "Yes, and its really clean too, all the time, I think the janitors take care of that for extra pay," said Ginny. They finally reached the entrance and Ginny pushed the doors open with the hand that wasn't carrying the suitcase. They stepped inside.

The hall inside was huge. There was a large marble staircase that led off to two sides of the school. The walls were decorated with beautiful paintings. There was a large door off to the right of the hallway, but Ginny led Hermione up the stairs and then turned right. "The 6th to 8th graders have their classes on the left side of the school, and their dorms. 9th through 12th is on this side," explained Ginny. They dragged Hermione's suitcases up 3 flights of stairs before Ginny turned down a long hallway. "Some people like to room with more than 2 people. The most is 5, and they get pretty big rooms. And if you want you can room with yourself, but that costs a ton," said Ginny.

There were people in the hallway already. Some were waiting for their friends to come out of their rooms and some were already walking past Ginny and Hermione to get to their first class. Hermione had already recieved her schedule. Having passed all of these at her school, she knew that she could get A's in all her subjects. AP Calculus was first, then AP Physics, Musical Composition, Lunch, AP Psychology, two free periods and AP English. Hermione followed Ginny to the end of the hallway. A few people said hello to Ginny as they passed. Ginny opened the door and Hermione followed her inside. The room was rather big. There were two beds, one of which was empty, the other had Ginny's suitcases on it. There were two dressers, one on each side of the room, and two flat screen TV's were hanging up on the walls. There were two windows in the room that had blue curtains on them. "This is amazing," said Hermione as she and Ginny dropped the suitcases on Hermione's bed. "I guess I'm just used to it," said Ginny, shrugging. "Let's go, we have to get down to breakfast," said Ginny. Hermione ooked surprised. "Breakfast? Don't you mean our first class?" she asked, already searching through her suitcase for her notebook and pens. "No, on the first day we always skip classes and just relax," said Ginny. "But we relaxed all summer," said Hermione. "Don't complain about it," said Ginny.

They walked back down to the entrance hall, Hermione trying to remember which staircases they took. They walked into the big doors Hermione had seen before. Inside them was a very large hall, which Ginny told her was called the Dining Hall. There were 5 tables in all. About 200 students were at these tables. At the very front of the hall, farthest from the door was a table that looked like it was full of the teachers. There was no food on the tables yet. The table farthest to the left of the hall held very small students. "That one's for 6th and 7th graders," said Ginny, looking where Hermione was. "The one next that is for 8th and 9th graders. This one," said Ginny, pointing to the third table from the left, is for 10th and 11th graders, and we get a table all to ourselves," said Ginny, smiling. She led Hermione to the table farthest to the right, where the tallest people were sitting. Hermione noticed that a lot of people, especially boys, were staring at her. Ginny led her halfway down the table to a group of her friends and they sat down. Hermione noticed a lot of people seemed to be grouped around a very attractive senior boy with black hair, and round glasses. "Who's that?" asked Hermione. Ginny turned to who she was pointing to. She made a small grunting noise. "Harry Potter. He's literally the most popular guy at this school. Everyone loves him, especially the girls," said Ginny in a disgusted manner, although after the discussion was over, Hermione saw Ginny glance at Harry a couple of times, the disgusted look no longer on her face.

Hermione looked behind her. There were still a couple guys staring at her, and Hermione realized her blouse was not long enough in the back so that her bare skin was hanging out. Some of the guys' eyes seemed glued to her. She hastened to pull it down and turned away from them. She turned to the teachers table. There was a brown haired man sitting in the very middle, who was middle aged but not that bad looking, whom Hermione assumed was the principal. Next to him was an older woman with her hair in a tight bun on the top of her head. On the other side of the principal was a man with red hair. "Ginny," said Hermione, hitting her friend's arm lightly. "Why is your brother up there?" she asked. "He's a teacher," said Ginny obviously. "He looks a little young to be a teacher, I thought he was still a teacher," said Hermione. "He's 26," said Ginny. "Wow," said Hermione simply. "My mum and dad sent him to school early, he was really smart. Started kindergarten when he was just 3," said Ginny. "Oh," said Hermione, marveling at his intelliegence. Ron suddenly looked over at her, probably because she was next to Ginny, and smiled. Ginny, however, was no longer looking at him. Hermione smiled back, blushing furiously. "Er, so what does he teach?" asked Hermione. "AP English 12," said Ginny. Hermione felt a butterfly in her stomach in knowing Ron would be teaching her.

The principal stood up and addressed the student body. Everyone fell silent at once. "For some of you students who do not know me, I am Mr. Hardley, your principal. These are, of course, your wonderful teachers, who will be a big part of your lives for the next 9 months," said Mr. Hardley, smiling at them. Some students groaned loudly. "Now, just a few rules before we eat breakfast. The lake, which most of you already know of, is to be used only during free time, and no one below the age of 13 may be out in the water without a teacher present. Each teacher will give their students a set of rules for their classroom, but there are still many for the school. All students in the 6th to 9th grade are to be in their rooms by 10 PM every evening. Students in grades 10 and 11 are to be in their beds by 11, and seniors are to be in their rooms by midnight (Ginny gave a squeal next to Hermione). If, however, you are with a teacher it is okay. No students are to enter a teachers office without the permission of the teacher, and lastly, no one is to be outside the school past midnight, which shouldn't be a problem, seeing as you should all be in bed by then. A complete set of rules will be issued to each student. Please read over them. Now, I know most of you are hungry, so we will eat now," said Mr. Hardley.

The lunch ladies came out of a door in the middle of the Dining Hall. Each one carrying a tray of food. There were about 30 lunch ladies in all. There were nearly 5 trays of each food on each table, and the lunch ladies then brought out pitchers and jugs of drinks. They all looked exhausted. Eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, french toast, pancakes, waffles, fruit, and anything else imaginable. Hermione found she was rather hungry and put eggs and bacon on her plate and began to eat. Across from Ginny and Hermione were two twin boys who were staring at Hermione. Ginny noticed. "You don't have a chance," said Ginny rudely. They ignored her. "Hi, I'm Elliot," said one of them, reaching over the plates of food to shake Hermione's hand. Hermione shook it and the other boy stuck his hand out too. "Joshua," he said, knocking over an almost empty jug of orange juice. "Class clowns," said Ginny. Hermione just smiled. After everyone had eaten, the principal got up again.

"Classes won't start until tomorrow. Lunch will be served from 10 to 2 and dinner will be from 4 to 7. Within the next two hours you will need to go to your teachers, who will be in their offices, and get the required books you will need for tomorrow's lessons. See you at lunch," he said. Everyone began to leave in groups. Hermione and Ginny got up and went back to their room. Hermione picked up her schedule. She needed to get 5 books and decided to start from the top of her schedule. She and Ginny compared schedules. Hermione saw that they had their first 3 classes together and lunch. They also had AP Psychology together, but Ginny had Honors English 12 with Mrs. Cooper. Ginny also had Gym during one of the free periods Hermione did. "I've never had a free period before," she said, "I guess I'll just go swimming or do homework."

"Come on, let's go get our books," said Hermione. She had to follow Ginny through the school. She tried to remember how they got to every class, but it was very hard to remember with all of the staircase and hallways in the school. They got their Calculus book from a very nice woman named Mrs. Edwards, and they got their Physics book from Mrs. Zimmermann. They got their music book from Mr. King, and then got their Psychology book from Mrs. Donahue. Ginny led Hermione up to Ron's room, but told her she had to go to get her book from Mrs. Cooper because there was only 10 minutes left to get books. Hermione opened the door and stepped inside.

The classroom was rather large with about 30 desks in 5 rows. Ron was not in there, but then Hermione saw three junior boys coming out of a door, which was up higher with stairs coming from it. The boys walked down the stairs, each carrying a large english book. Hermione walked past them. They stared at her as she walked past, and she thought she heard them run into eachother as they stopped to have a longer look, but did not turn around. She walked up the stairs and knocked on the door. "Come in," came Ron's voice. Hermione opened the door. Ron was sitting at a small desk in the middle of the room. There was another room protruding from it, with a large, queen sized bed, a dresser, a TV, and may other things inside. Hermione looked farther and saw a door open in the very corner, meaning the teachers had their own bathrooms.

"Oh, hello," said Ron, looking up from his desk. He walked over to a cabinet that had books stacked on it and picked one from the smallest pile and handed it to Hermione. "What's the number on that?" he asked, picking up a gradebook to write on it. "Um, 69M," said Hermione, trying not to laugh at the stupid joke she had heard many times before. Ron gave her a look that plainly said he was not trying to laugh either. "So, I saw you talking to my sister, she's a handful, isn't she?" he asked her. "Oh, yes, but I like her very much," said Hermione, trying very hard not to blush. Ron just looked up at her smiling. He, suddenly realizing that he was staring at her, quickly recovered by handing her a list of his classrooms rules. "I'll see you in class, tomorrow," he said, trying not look at her. Hermione knew her blouse, once again, was not covering her back, but made no move to pull it down as she left his office, shutting the door softly behind her. The book clenched tightly in her hand, Hermione left the room, somehow knowing that wouldn't be the last time she'd be in Ron Weasley's office.

--

So, I hope you liked it. That chapter was a bit long, I know, but I'll probably try to make them a bit shorter. Most of you probably know the plot is similar to Never Been Kissed, except for the fact that Hermione is actually popular. Reviews please.


	2. Trouble

The following are the rules for Hogwarts prep. First offenses of any kind will result in a warning, second offenses a detention, and third offenses suspension. After the third offense, the student will immediately be expelled. Please read this list carefully.

1. No one below the age of 13 should be in the lake unless there is a teacher present.

2. All students in the 6th to 9th grade are to be in their rooms by 10PM every evening. 10th and 11th graders are to be in their beds by 11 PM. Seniors will be in their beds by midnight. All of these are excuseable when accompanied by a teacher.

3. No one is to enter a teachers office without permission.

4. No one should be outside the school past midnight.

5. Detentions will be served with the teacher who gave the detention in their office.

6. No public displays of affection.

7. Homework that is late shall not be accepted.

8. Students will be allowed to visit the Valley Mall once a month, unless they have been punished.

9. All students will take the end of the year exams.

10. On holidays or special occasions, the times at which students should be in bed will be extended two hours.

Hermione read over it twice. Half of the things on there she had already known from the principal, but she still wanted to read it thoroughly. It was 7:00. Her first class started in a half an hour and she was just waiting for Ginny to finish getting ready. Her first night in the school had been a bit uncomfortable. She kept tossing and turning all night, and even though she tried to convince herself she could get through this, she knew she would never be able to.

At the beginning of Calculus, Mrs. Edwards gave a pretest that included most of the information they would learn that year. Hermione, who had already taken all the of the classes she had been signed up for, had recieved 100, realizing later on that she should've atleast made a couple wrong so not to draw attention to herself. AP Physics was ok, the teacher, Mrs. Zimmermann, was a nice but very old lady who fell asleep while the class was doing the introductory assignment, only to be shaken awake by a student, in which she'd shout random things about her cats and panty hose. Hermione found the music class to be a bit of a joke. The teacher knew how to play many instruments, but he refused to allow anyone else to play them. When class had begun, Mr. King called attendance and then pulled out a huge stack of papers. The students, expecting them to be worksheets, were horrified when they learned these were the notes they were expected to copy down for themselves, and to find that he refused to simply give out copies. He started by telling them they were to get through the nearly 300 papers sitting on his desk by the end of the first semester, and that he would simply read off a topic that was on the paper and explain it to the class while they drooled on their desks. He also said there would be tests every week on the material.

Finally, the music class ended, Hermione's music notebook already filled with 3 pages of notes. AP psychology was taught by Mrs. Donahue. She was the woman Hermione had seen sitting next to the principal at breakfast the other day. She was very strict and assigned Hermione and Ginny's class 2 writing assignments and an essay due that Friday. The class ended and Ginny headed off to gym, telling Hermione they could go swimming after she got back. Hermione started to sort through all of the papers she had already recieved that day, including lists of classroom rules, notes on what she would be learning, and the amazing amount of homework. Mrs. Edwards had also assigned them a small calculus assignment, due tomorrow, and Mrs. Zimmermann had assigned the class a reading assignment.

Ginny came back from gym very sweaty and changed into her bathing suit immediately. Her bathing suit was a two piece green, and Hermione noticed that Ginny, very much like Hermione, was very skinny and beautiful. They grabbed their towels and headed to the lake. When they got there, they found that many students were there, and that there was no teacher there, mainly because all of the younger kids had classes now. "We only have about a half an hour," said Ginny. The sun was beating down, but there was a slight breeze in the air. Ginny dived right in, but Hermione walked in slowly. "Come on," said Ginny. The lake was very large and curved so that Hermione could not see the other end of it beyond the trees. Ginny swam all the way into the middle, which Hermione knew must've been atleast twenty feet deep. Hermione put her head under, the water was cold, but felt good upon her skin, like an icy relief. She was just swimming out to where Ginny was when she heard a loud giggle.

Harry Potter and his admirers were coming out for a swim. The girls, whom varied in age, all watched as Harry took off his shirt and went straight into the lake, following him, fighting for who could be closest to him. Ginny's face became very red. "Let's go," said Ginny, beginning to swim back towards shore. "But we just got out here," said Hermione, knowing they couldn't have been out there for more than 5 minutes. "I don't want to be around him. Besides I can't get any peace with those girls around him," she said, her face still red. Hermione reluctantly followed, sensing Ginny's anger was not drawn toward Harry or the girls, but to the growing feelings Hermione could sense Ginny had for Harry. As Ginny and Hermione got their towels, Hermione looked back and saw that Harry was staring up at them, as though disappointed they had just gotten out. "They walked back up to the school. Hermione blow dried her hair in her room quickly. She straightened it quickly and changed back into the clothes she had been wearing before. She put makeup on and put her earrings back in. Before leaving for English, she checked her reflection once more, just to make sure she looked perfect.

Five minutes until English, Hermione and Ginny parted. Ginny, however, did not need to lead Hermione to Ron's room, mainly because Hermione had remembered it from so clearly before. She opened the door and stepped inside. She was the first one there. Ron was standing in front of a file cabinet. The drawer was open and he was putting away some files. He looked up at Hermione. "Pick anywhere you want," he said. Hermione picked the second desk back in the middle row. Ron was just now pulling small books off a shelf, setting them on each of the desks. He set Great Expectations down on Hermione's desk. "I remember this book, it was so--" Hermione began. Ron was now setting the books down on the desks in the row next to her, raised his eyebrows. Hermione forgot no one had read this book in high school since she had been there. "I mean, my mom told me it was really good," she said, saving herself. "Your mom has fine taste," said Ron, continuing to put the books on the desks. "Yes," said Hermione, looking down at her desk. The students then started coming in, some of them groaning at the sight of the book they would have to read. Only half of the desks were filled when Ron finally began talking.

"Okay, so this AP English 12. I never took the time to type up rules, so here they are: 1. Turn in your assignments on time. I understand some of you may forget or mess up on something. So tell me about it, and I'll consider giving you an extension, 2. Do the work, even if I don't collect it for a grade, it'll still help you on tests, and 3. Listen when someone else is talking. Listen to them. And listen to me when I talk. I don't have classes during 1st, 3rd or 5th period, so if you need help with an assignment, I'll be here," he said. Half of the class nodded, and the some muttered "yes" or "ok". "Now," said Ron, clapping his hands together and leaning up on his desk, "Great Expectations. One of the best books I've ever read. We'll we studying it until the end of October. In November we'll begin poetry, which will lead right into Romeo and Juliet in December, which will continue into January after Christmas. Now, any questions?" asked Ron. A girl whom Hermione remembered had been one of Harry's admirers early at the lake raised her hand. Ron pointed to her. ""Yes, Miss..." he said. "Trenum," finished the girl. "I was just wondering, what happens when we're bad?" she asked. Hermione, and probably half the clas, had the urge to laugh, but held it in as she batted her eyelashes at Ron. "What do you mean bad?" asked Ron, oblivious to the flirting going on. "You know, if we forget to turn in an assignment or do our work or fail a test. Will we get punished?" she asked. "Miss. Trenum, when you don't do your assignments you will get a detention with me," said Ron."All I wanted to know," said the girl, turning in her chair to giggle with one of her blonde friends next to her. Ron still looked confused, but continued.

"Anyways, I want you to read chapters 1 through 3 in Great Expectations tonight. We'll discuss it tomorrow," said Ron. The rest of the class period was spent beginning to read the assignment, or, in Hermione's case to read it for nearly the 10th time. She finished 10 minutes before the class ended. Ron was watching her, but Hermione was already working on her calculus assignment that was due tomorrow. The bell rang and Hermione began to gather up her things. "Hermione, can I have a word?" asked Ron. Hermione nodded. She walked up to Ron's desk. "Why didn't you do the assignment?" he asked. "Oh, I did," said Hermione. "You read that fast?" he asked, staring at her with hard eyes. "Yes, I've been known to read fast," said Hermione, smiling at him innocently. "Would you mind telling me what happens in the first three chapters then," said Ron. After Hermione had explained everything in detail to him, he just stared at her shocked. "Wow, you really did read it," he said. "Yes," said Hermione. "Okay, well, thank you," said Ron, turning to sit in his chair. "Hermione," he said. She turned around. "Keep up the good work," he said, smiling. He even winked at her. Hermione jerked her head back around, so Ron could not see the redness on her face.

When she got back to the hallway where she lived, a girl was on the floor, leaning against the wall. Her hair looked wet with sweat, and a putrid smell was coming her. A couple of her friends were around her. Hermione had never seen this girl before, but Ginny was also around her, patting her on the back. "I mean, what is going on with him anyways? I know he is sleeping with that whore, Ashley Trenum. She's done every hot guy in this school. And Jeff can't even manage to stay with me. Ashley's such a whore, she's probably doing Harry Potter right now," said the drunk girl. At this, Ginny jerked up so quicly she looked like a jack in a box coming out of its box it was scary. She went all the way down to the end of the hall and into her and Hermione's room, slamming the door behind her. Everyone watched her for a minute before turning back to their friend. "Alyssa, it's ok," said one of the girls. "No, it's not, we've got to do something to get back at Ashley, she's such a whore. She even flirted with Mr. Weasley today!" said Alyssa. Hermione heard no more as she went down the hall and into her and Ginny's room. Ginny was face down on the bed, her head hidden by the pillow it was on. "Ginny?" asked Hermione, shutting the door behind her. Ginny lifted her head. Her eyes were red and puffy. "Are you okay?" asked Hermione. "Yes," said Ginny, pushing her head back down on the pillow. "Ginny, tell me whats wrong," said Hermione.

She sat up on her bed and faced Hermione, who moved her hairdryer to sit on her own bed. "I just sometimes feel like he's all anyone can talk about," said Ginny. "Who Harry?" asked Hermione. "Yes, I mean, he's not even that good looking. His hair is stupid and those glasses look revolting, and all the girls love him," said Ginny. "Why do they?" asked Hermione. "It's just because of his looks. And Ashley really is a whore. She tried to flirt with my brother?" asked Ginny, her eyes starting to clear. "Yes, she asked what would happen if she got punished in his class," said Hermione, trying to laugh. "She was probably hoping for a spanking," said Ginny. Hermione tried to smile but instead pulled her books out of her bag. She had already finished the calculus work, but decided to work on the other homework she had been assigned. At about 9 o' clock, Hermione fell asleep, only to be awoken four hours later by Ginny, who was shaking her roughly. "What?" asked Hermione, rubbing her eyes with her hands. "Look," said Ginny. She held up a bottle of some sort, and Hermione realized that is was vodka. "What are you doing with that?" asked Hermione. "We're going to go down to the lake and swim," said Ginny. "It's 1 in the morning, go back to bed," said Hermione, turning away from Ginny. "No way, do you know how much begging I had to do to get this?" said Ginny, who began shaking Hermione again. "Come on, please. It'll just be me and you and a couple of friends," said Ginny. "Fine, but not for long," said Hermione. She quickly changed into her swimsuit, putting a large t-shirt over it, and then her and Ginny left the room, Hermione grabbing her purse.

She had just realized that through all of the things she had been doing the last couple of days, she had forgotten to write ideas for her story. She had put her small notebook and a pen in her purse, and decided if she had free time she would jot down a couple of ideas. "How are we going to get out?" asked Hermione. Ginny, who was now opening the door to step onto the stairway, closed it again. Then she whispered to Hermione. "We just have to be quiet. A couple of other people are bringing cigarettes and beer, so I'm hoping no one will get too drunk," said Ginny, getting ready to open the door again. "But, you smoke?" asked Hermione. She had always seen smoking as a disgusting habit, and was surprised in thinking Ginny smoked. "Only on occasion," said Ginny. "And drinking?" asked Hermione, whom had occasionally had a drink, but had never drank a lot at once. "Sometimes," said Ginny. She then opened the door, and motioned for Hermione to follow her out the door. The staircase was empty as far as Hermione could see. Ginny had shoved the vodka bottle in her overlarge purse, and they had to jump around a corner to avoid a very strict looking teacher who was patrolling the castle. When the teacher disappeared, they finally got down to the entrance and went outside, being as quiet as they could. Nearly 15 people, all seniors, were already at the lake, but on the other side so they would be covered by the trees. Hermione recognized Alyssa, the drunk girl, Ashley, who was batting her eyelashes to a couple of guys, and Joshua and Elliot, the twins, who saw Hermione and Ginny and smiled. Hermione set her purse down, but Ginny grabbed the bottle out of hers and held it up so everyone could see. A few people cheered softly, and they all took drinks. Empty cans of beer were already filling the ground, and cigarette smoke was coming from at least 10 different cigarettes.

Ginny saw Harry, who, surprisingly, was not surrounded by girls, or drinking or smoking, and grunted. Harry saw her looking and smiled, thinking she was simply looking at him, but Ginny turned away, getting a cup and pouring vodka in it. Hermione took a small drink. She had not had vodka for nearly 3 years, and it actually tasted pretty good going down her throat. Ashley was now leading one very attractive guy farther into the woods. Hermione watched them go until they completely disappeared, obscured by the trees. Ginny was now taking off her clothes, ready to get into the water. Hermione did the same, but, unlike a few of the people out in the water, she was actually wearing something.

Hermione wondered, for a moment, what Ashley and the attractive guy were doing in the woods. Hermione had only had a couple of other boyfriends, and none were really serious, but she had slept with one. His name was Liam and he turned out to be a player, so she had dumped him. Hermione closed her eyes as she swam in the shallow end of the water, since the people who were skinny dipping were out farther. Images of her leading Ron off into the woods creeped inside her head, but a bright light suddenly swept over everyone, and Hermione opened her eyes to see one flashlight zooming around, stopping on certain students. "Don't try to run," said a familiar voice, "I've already seen all your faces, and you'll be in more trouble if you do. Behavior like this is reason for expulsion." Hermione couldn't believe it, she couldn'y get expelled. Brian would kill her, and she would probably be fired, too. Hermione and Ginny came out of the water. Some people who had been sitting on the beach were now throwing the clothes to the people in the water so they could dress before coming out. When and Hermione got to the beach, Hermione couldn't believe that it was Ron who was holding the flashlight.

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Well, I hope you like it. Next chapter will be up tomorrow or the next day. I've already finished writing the next couple. Reviews are nice!!


	3. Future

"Everyone, let's go," said Ron. The people who had no clothes on had to be handed them by the students who did. Hermione wrapped her towel around her, grabbed her purse and walked alongside Ginny up to the school. Ashley and the boy had not come out of the woods yet. The twins, Elliot and Joshua, were now gathering up the alcohol and cigarettes that had not been used yet. They shoved it into their bags and walked behind Hermione and Ginny. Hermione heard them whispering back and forth to eachother. "This is it, we're done," said Elliot. "I know, man, last year we got caught with that beer and they let us off, but this is it," said Joshua. A few of the students ahead of Hermione and Ginny were staggering around, meaning they had obviously had too much to drink.

When they got inside the school, however, Ron was leading them up the stairs, and Hermione was sure Ginny had said the Principal's office was on this floor. Halfway up the stairs, the very strict lady Hermione and Ginny had hidden from earlier saw the noticeable group of about 15 students and a teacher. "Mr. Weasley, why are these students out of bed?" she asked in a not-so-surprising stern voice. Ron stumbled on his words for a moment before answering. Hermione waited for it. She knew she was done, finished at the school. Her life as a reporter was over, and she even ruined Brian's career too just because she wanted a little fun.

"Well, Ms. Alcott, the students and I went for a swim," said Ron. Most of the students who had been red in the face now breathed a sigh of relief. The lady saw this but didn't say anything. She actually looked rather offended. "Student's aren't to be out of bed past midnight," she snapped. "I know, that was my fault, I left my watch on when I went in the water, and it got ruined," he said innocently. "You don't look wet at all," said the teacher sternly. "Well, I dried off before we came back up and changed back into my clothes," said Ron. "I'll have to tell Mr. Hardley," she said, raising her long head up high. Her bony chin stuck out far, and her brown hair was in curls that stuck ridiculously to her head. "Are you sure you want to do that?" asked Ron, leaning closer to her. "Yes, I do! These students are breaking rules and they should be punished," she said. "Well, if you do tell Mr. Hardley, I'll be sure to tell him of how you got drunk at Mrs. Zoranos birthday party and danced on the table when 'You Can't Touch This' came on," said Ron, in a whisper that was loud enough for everyone to hear.The woman looked rather angry for a minute and then continued down the stairs, making no comment to any of the students. They got to where they were going, Ron's office, without meeting anyone else, and he ushered them inside.

"Do you all know what you're doing?" he suddenly said, making a few of the drunk people jump. He sighed loudly. "Some of my best students," he said, glaring at Hermione, Ginny, and Harry in particular. "I understand, that you want to have fun and be teenagers, but risking everything for a couple of drinks and a smoke is just stupid. Hell when I was a kid I loved doing that stuff, but right now, at the best school..." he seemed not to be able to continue. One hand was on his forehead going back and forth and he was pacing in front of them all. "I just don't want your lives ruined for one mistake. Even missing part of your senior year can affect what jobs you'll get in the future and what college you go to," he said. Everyone looked relieved, even though their heads were down. Alyssa, who was drunk once again, had her head jerking every which way. "Let me just say that you all are glad it was me who caught you, and not someone else like Ms. Alcott," said Ron.

"Sir," said Harry. Ron looked at him. "We're all sorry, we really are, like you said, you know what it's like being a kid and just wanting to have fun and to have freedom, we just wanted to get away from everything for one night," said Harry. Everyone was in awe at Harry, whom Hermione guessed never really spoke like that. "Well said," said Ginny to Hermione's surprise. Harry smiled at Ginny, but Ginny did not return the smile. "Sir, do you think we can go to bed now, we're all very tired," said Elliot. "And exhausted," said Joshua. "From all that skinny dipping," said Elliot. Ginny laughed next to Hermione. Ron looked angrily at Ginny and the twins. Risking expulsion isn't funny to me," said Ron, a look of not anger but worry on his face.

"I'll write you all notes to get back to your rooms. But make no detours," said Ron, his eyes focusing on the twins. "If a teacher stops you tell them to come get me and I'll set them straight," said Ron. He picked up a pad of paper that was on his desk and started writing notes for everyone. The girls that were there tried to grab each of Harry's arms as he left, but he shrugged them off, and they looked rather sulky as they slammed the door behind them. Finally, only Ginny and Hermione were left.

"Are you insane?" he asked them. "You got me that vodka," said Ginny defensively. "No, I brought it in the school for you," said Ron. "You bought me a ton of alcohol, and don't try to deny it," she said. "I'm not denying anything, I'm saying, taking it outside to share with your so called friends is not a wise decision," he said. "We just wanted some fun," said Ginny. Ron was now writing Ginny a note. "So would you rather I drank all the vodka by myself?" she asked him. "No," admitted Ron. He handed the note to her. He was now leaning on his desk. "I thought better of you Hermione," he said. She didn't say anything. "I thought you were a model student," he said. He was holding the note close to him, still not giving it to her. "I expected so much more from you," he said. "Stop lecturing me and start lecturing the 15 other people who were out there, and the 2 that are still. Why aren't you lecturing your sister? She was out there too, along with a ton of your other students. You need to lighten up," she said. "I will not lighten up, you could get arrested for stuff like this," he said. "Fine, then go turn me in," she said angrily. "I won't turn you in," said Ron. "No, really do it right now, because if you're going to stand here and tell me individually that I made a mistake then you obviously have some type of grudge against me," said Hermione. "I don't have a grudge against you," said Ron calmly. "Then go bother someone else," said Hermione. He suddenly grabbed her waist and pulled her toward him with both his hands. Hermione's towel was still around her, and she found she didn't feel selfconcious at all. He was just looking into her eyes. They were inches apart now. Hermione hands were still down by her sides, and he looked as if he wanted to kiss her, but he suddenly let go of her and handed her the note.

"What was that?" asked Hermione. Ron was now looking at her in surprise, as if he couldn't believe he had just done that. "I don't know," he said, breathing deeply. "Ron--" began Hermione. "Go, just go," he said. He turned to head into the room where he slept and Hermione left the room. Ginny was waiting for her at the door. "What was that about?" she asked. "I don't know," said Hermione, holding the note tightly in her hand. They left his room to head back to their room. They saw the strict teacher, Ms. Alcott on their way, but she hastily turned away from them, obviously not wanting her drunken tirade to be revealed to Mr. Hardley. When they got to their room, Hermione fell down on her bed without even changing.

"Hermione," said Ginny suddenly. "Yeah?" said Hermione. "I think I like him," said Ginny. "Who?" asked Hermione, thinking of Harry. "Elliot," said Ginny, and Hermione was surprised to see she wasn't joking. "Are you kidding?" asked Hermione. "Well, he's funny, and nice, and I've known him since the 2nd grade. I think I might ask him out," said Ginny. "What was that at breakfast yesterday morning then?" asked Hermione, remembering Ginny being rude to Elliot and Joshua. Ginny shrugged. "I think he's pretty cool," said Ginny. "And annoying," added Hermione. Ginny glared at her. Ginny turned away from her, got off her bed, and walked to her window to look out of it.

"Hermione, can I tell you something? Something that no one else knows?" asked Ginny, still gazing out at the window. "Sure, what is it?" asked Hermione. Ginny looked thoughtful for a moment. "No, never mind," said Ginny, flailing her arms about. "No, Ginny's it's alright, tell me," said Hermione. "Alright, well, I'm a virgin," said Ginny. "I'm not surprised," said Hermione. Ginny looked hurt. "No, no, no, I just mean you're, I mean we're too young to be having sex," said Hermione. "So you're a virgin too?" asked Ginny, raising her eyebrows. Hermione looked down. "No, I'm not," she said. "Oh," said Ginny, suddenly looking downcast. "It was stupid and I can't believe I did it," said Hermione. "When was it?" asked Ginny. "A year ago," Hermione lied. "It was this guy. It was stupid and it was a mistake," said Hermione.

"What happened?" asked Ginny. "His name was Jeremy," said Hermione, lying again, "I was at this party, and there was a lot of alcohol. I drank too much and I'd known him since middle school, but we were never really together, and then he just took it from me," said Hermione, putting her head down. "Hermione, I'm sorry," said Ginny, looking truly remorseful. "It was my fault, I shouldn't have drank, I was just stupid," said Hermione, now feeling bad for having to lie to Ginny, when she was being so nice to her. "All I'm saying," said Ginny, sitting back down on her bed, "is that I don't want to waste it. I want it to be special and wonderful. I guess that sounds cheesy." "Not at all," said Hermione, pulling the covers over her.

When Ginny and Hermione climbed into bed, Ginny suddenly spoke. "I just want to find the one, you know? Someone who I can see spending my future with. Guess it'll take a bit of searching," she said. Hermione didn't answer. She wished the same thing for herself, and an image of Ron crept into her mind. She knew she barely knew him, but she just felt so amazing when she was around him. The image of Ron still embedded before her eyes, and the feel of his hands on her waists still in her memory, she fell asleep, hoping somehow, she would find a way to tell him, and everyone else, the truth.

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So this chapter was a bit shorter, I know some of you are probably thinking Ron did what he did a bit too soon, but I just want to emphasize how much he already likes her. Thanks for reading and reviews are awesome!


	4. Moments

September went by so quickly that Hermione couldn't believe it was already October. Hermione's guilt at not telling Ginny who she really was increased when Ginny got special permission to go the mall to get Hermione a cake for her birthday. She, Elliot, Joshua, and a couple of other people had sang Happy Birthday to her while she was eating dinner. They had gone to the mall in the middle of September, along with nearly all of the teachers. When Ginny was looking at shoes, Hermione was embarrassed to see Ron buying boxers. He looked at her, gulped and jerked his head back to the counter where the lady was ringing him up. Ron hadn't talked to her since the incident on the second day, but Hermione occasionally saw him looking at her. His face would get red and he'd turn away.

Hermione had called Brian once, but he, along with Anita and Alex, had said that Hermione's idea on doing a story on the food was too boring, so she needed to find something better. "When's the next time you go to the mall?" asked Brian. "October 13th," said Hermione. "Good, we'll be there," said Brian, and he hung up, not even allowing Hermione to reply.

As October 13th approached, Hermione's classes were getting harder, but Hermione was easily keeping up with the work she had already done 7 years ago. Her teachers were becoming more strict and she had even fallen asleep twice in Mr. King's music class. Ginny seemed to be the only one able to stay awake. She took the notes carefully and allowed Hermione to borrow the ones she had missed. Ginny, Hermione realized, was very gifted in school, and would probably go on to a good college if she kept it up. Her and Elliot had begun dating a few weeks after she had told Hermione she liked him, and could always be seen making out in between classes. "We're not having sex," explained Ginny once she had pulled her lips away from Elliot as he had to go to class. "We just like eachother a lot," she said. Hermione didn't say anything.

Harry Potter had been rather sulky lately. The swarm of girls that were usually around him were no longer coming near him. Hermione had seen him push them away, but he had begun dating a girl named Cho, who was a junior. Cho was now always seen with him. Whenever Hermione saw them together Harry always seemed to be so distant from her, and Cho was nearly always crying, especially in the bathrooms in between classes. After a few days of seeing this, Hermione had finally asked Ginny what was going on. Ginny had explained to Hermione that Cho had once had a boyfriend named Henry and that he had died suddenly the previous year, leaving Cho heartbroken. "So then why is she dating Harry?" asked Hermione. "I don't know! And stop bothering me about stuff that isn't any of our business," she snapped, and stormed down the hall. Elliot and Ginny were now attached to the hip, but Ginny would always start kissing him when Harry and Cho walked by, to be responded by glares from Harry.

When October 13th came, Hermione woke up and dressed in casual jeans and a blue blouse. "So where are we going to go today, Gin?" she asked Ginny, whom was already dressed but putting on makeup. "Oh, Hermione, I'm sorry, I promised Elliot we'd walk around today," said Ginny. "Oh, that's okay," said Hermione, figuring she could just walk around by herself. Ginny looked mildly hurt. "I'm sorry, Hermione, but I promised him," said Ginny. "No, really, it's fine," said Hermione, although she was slightly hurt Ginny hadn't told her before.

They walked together down to the entrance hall, and Ginny drifted off to Elliot, who gave her a kiss straightaway. Ron was standing and directing students to the buses near the entrance. "Hermione!" said someone. Hermione turned. It was Joshua. "Good, I thought you were gone for a minute there," he said. Hermione just gave him a half smile as she continued to look at Ron. She knew he saw her but he was purposefully avoiding looking at her. She sat down on the bus 10 minutes laters with Joshua in the back of the bus behind Ginny and Elliot. Harry and Cho chose the seat next to Hermione and Joshua, and Ginny immediately grabbed the back of Elliots head and kissed him fiercely. The teachers, who were at the front, did not see them. Cho, who was talking about something her friend Marietta had said earlier, did not see Harry staring at Ginny until halfway through the bus ride. When she did see him she looked from him to Ginny and then punched his arm rather hard. "What?" asked Harry loudly. "Stop looking at her," said Cho. "I'm not," said Harry. Elliot did not hear, and neither did Joshua, but Hermione thought she saw Ginny smirk when her lips came off of Elliots for a mere second.

When they got to the mall, Elliot and Ginny were already off the bus before everyone else and they had disappeared into the crowd of students before Hermione and Joshua had gotten off. "So where do you wanna go?" he asked as they walked into the mall. "I have to go to the bathroom, I'll meet you back here," said Hermione honestly. She spotted a bathroom and walked quickly to it. When she got there, however, there was a sign on the door that said "Out of Order". "Shit!" she said loudly. She began to turn away, but just then the bathroom door opened up a little and a hand pulled her inside it. "What the hell?" she said as she was dragged into the bathroom. When she looked she saw that Brian, Alex, and Anita were all standing and looking at her. "You could've atleast given me a heads up," said Hermione. "We tried," said Brian. "Yeah, I tried calling your cell but you didn't answer," said Anita. "Never mind that, what are you doing here?" asked Hermione. "We need a story," said Brian. "If someone finds you our cover will be blown!" said Hermione.

"Look, we have this," said Alex, who was standing rather close to Brian. He held up a couple of wires. "What's that?" asked Hermione. "It's a camera," said Alex, and he handed her a small beautiful purple pin. "What's this for?" asked Hermione. "You wear it," said Brian. Hermione attached it to her shirt. It actually didn't look too bad. "Why?" asked Hermione, fidgeting with the pin. "So we can get a good story," said Brian. Hermione looked up. "So, you're going to be watching everything I do?" asked Hermione. "Not everything, you'll turn it off when you sleep," said Alex. "Look at this," said Anita. She picked up a bag and pulled out a laptop that was already on. She opened up the screen for Hermione to see. She could see Brian and Alex on it, waving to her. "What the hell?" she asked."We're just gonna watch and look for a good story," explained Brian, now beginning to pack everything up. "No, you know there's a such thing as an invasion of privacy," said Hermione. "Hermione, come on," said Brian. "When you go to the bathroom or get in the shower you can take it off," said Anita. Hermione considered for a moment. She didn't like the idea of having people see what she only was supposed to see, but then remembered this story could change her entire life. "Fine," she said. "Great!" said Brian, looking excited. Alex hugged him, and Brian pulled away from him quickly, looking rather red.

"Now, go, go, go, go," said Brian quickly. Hermione slipped out of the bathroom. There was no one around them so the other three came out, Alex grabbing the sign on the door. Hermione ran back in to pee and then met Joshua, who was waiting for her at a table sipping a coke. She just smiled at him. "Let's go find Ginny and Elliot," said Joshua. They searched for a half an hour and finally found them in the back of a store looking at clothes. "Oh, hey you guys, do you wanna go to the coffee shop down the mall, I hear its romantic," said Ginny, smiling back at Elliot. Hermione wasn't too pleased. Joshua had already dropped plenty of hints at Hermione and she wasn't sure she would enjoy him staring at her for another hour, but agreed anyway. They found the coffee shop and went inside. Ginny and Elliot found a table in the back and Hermione and Joshua sat at the table next to theirs. Hermione ordered a small coffee and sipped on it. The thought that Alex, Brian, and Anita were all seeing what she was seeing wasn't very comforting, but she did not mention it. "Nice pin," said Joshua, pointing to her chest. "Thanks," said Hermione.

November soon came, bringing along with it cold weather, which meant Hermione put away her summer clothes and brought out sweaters and jeans. Another surprising thing was that Ron was now back on speaking terms with Hermione. His class was now starting poetry, which was Hermione's favorite. On the first day of November, he gave them an assignment. "I want you to write poetry," he said. "About what?" asked Ashley. "Anything you want. Love, loss, hatred, death, anything. It'll be due tomorrow and you'll have to read it in front of the class if you want full credit," he said. Hermione worked nearly all night on the poem, and was very proud of herself when she had finished.

The next day in class, Ron mentioned the poems. "Now, who would like to share first?" he asked to the 13 students. They all sank down deeper into their seats. Hermione, deciding to be the brave one, raised her hand. Ron looked at her. "Ah, Hermione, go ahead," he said. Hermione stood up and grabbed the piece of notebook paper she had written her poem on. "I call this poem 'Without You'," she said, and began to read as the entire class stared at her.

_Without you, the city falls asleep softly,  
Without you, the color disappears slowly,  
Without you, the trees forget the wind,  
Without you, the night is chagrined._

_Without you, my music does not amaze,  
Without you, my hours are days,  
Without you, my heart gets bored,  
Without you, my steps are too heavy and not labored._

_Without you, my thoughts prevent me from going to bed,  
Without you, I do not distinguish the horizon ahead,  
Without you, there are no heavens,  
Without you, the time forgets its reasons._

_Without you, I am afraid of the next day not chosen,  
Without you, the haze conceals the splendid ocean,  
Without you, I do not figure or picture anything pleasant,  
Without you, I am wondering this question at this moment..._

_My love, where are you hidden?  
Without you, my happiness is forbidden,  
My heart without you, is not at all replete,  
My life without you, is so incomplete..._

Hermione looked up from the paper. The entire class, even Ron, was staring as though mesmerized by her. Hermione sat back down in her seat. Ron was still staring at her with his mouth slightly open. He suddenly spoke. "Any comments?" he asked to the class. Alyssa said, "I thought it was really pretty." One of the twins said "She's a pro" loudly. "Well, yes, it would certainly seem that way," said Ron. He walked around to his desk and sat down in the chair. "Please pass your poems forward," Ron said, leaning back in his chair. He had an odd look on his face, as though just realizing something, but Hermione did not know what. The class passed their poems forward.

The bell rang and everyone left except Hermione, Ron had motioned her forward. He got up from his chair and led her into his office. There were a few bags on the floor next to his desk that looked to be filled with sweets and soda. He had a bookcase standing against a wall near the door and looked through it before finding what he wanted. He pulled out a large book. "Here," he said, handing the book to her. Hermione looked at it. It was a book of poems called _Classic Poetry. _"I want you to have it," said Ron, walking to his desk and sitting on it. "What? No, I mean, I can't, it's yours," said Hermione. "No, I want you to have it," he said, walking behind his desk and sitting in his chair. "Ron, I wanted to talk about what happened, you know the second day," said Hermione. Hermione couldn't believe it had been nearly 2 months since it had happened. Ron looked down. "It was nothing, I just, I don't know," said Ron, trying to find the right words. "Here I'll get the door for you," he said. He was walking rather closely to his desk, and he suddenly tripped over a bag of sweets. He tried to grab Hermione for support, but he instead only fell on her hard, the book flying out of her hands. "Ouch," said Hermione in deep pain. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry," said Ron, his face becoming red. He was using his hands to hold himself off her body, and jumped up off her quickly. She got up and picked up her book and he opened the door for her.

"Well, I guess I'll go," said Hermione. "Read that book, I know you'll love the poetry in it," he said nervously, kicking the bag of sweets in frustration. Hermione smiled back at him and left the office, stopping for a minute outside the door, she had the strong urge to run back into his office and throw him on the bed, but had to hold it back as she walked back to her room, a dreamy look upon her face. Ginny was not in the room, so Hermione finished up all of her homework for the week, and then sat on her bed thinking. At about 7 Ginny came in. "Where were you?" asked Hermione. "With Elliot," said Ginny. "You two weren't...?" asked Hermione. "No, I told you I'm a virgin," said Ginny. "I know, just keep it that way until you find the one, remember," said Hermione. "I'm not a baby, I know what I'm doing," said Ginny. "So I guess kissing Elliot everytime Harry's around wouldn't be considered babyish?" asked Hermione. Ginny looked angry and went into their bathroom, slamming the door behind her. Hermione did not see her the rest of the night.

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Hey guys, I hope you liked it. That poem was by JDFreesoul on a Poems site. I just thought it was really good. Thanks for reading.


	5. Late Night Swim

"Elliot, stop it!" said Ginny, laughing as she pushed his hands away. He had been tickling her on her bed, and Hermione had had just about had enough. "I'll see you later Gin," said Hermione, closing the book she had been trying to read the last 10 minutes and throwing on her jacket and scarf. "Where are you going?" asked Ginny, laughing as Elliot tried to tickle her again. "To the lake I guess, its only 10, I have a few hours to swim," said Hermione. Her swimsuit was already under her clothes, having swam earlier. "It's freezing out," said Ginny. "You're crazy!" said Elliot, wrapping his arms around Ginny's waist.

"I'm a crazy person," said Hermione, keeping a straight face as she prepared to leave, grabbing a towel. "Hey, Hermione, wait," said Ginny, untangling herself from Elliot's arms and running to catch up to Hermione. They stepped outside and closed the door, leaving Elliot inside.

"What's wrong?" asked Ginny, searching for an answer in Hermione's expression. "Nothing," said Hermione simply. Ginny sighed. "Look, if you have a problem Elliot and I can go to his room," said Ginny. "No, its not that, it's the fact that you're relationship seems to be purely making out and that's it," said Hermione, not even trying to twist the truth. Ginny stepped back. "You don't know anything about our relationship," she said defensively.

"All I know is that for the 20 minutes I sat in there, all you two did was kiss, I didn't hear one word exchanged between you two," said Hermione. "We talk all the time," said Ginny, her face showing anger. "When? I have never heard you two have a full length conversation, its all about kissing and making out and sex!" said Hermione. She didn't know why, but watching Ginny and Elliot hurt a part of her.

"I TOLD YOU IM A VIRGIN! God damn it, what the hell is your problem?" yelled Ginny. "You're my problem, Ginny, alright, you don't know what you're doing, what you're throwing away? I saw your grades and they're slipping, but they were perfect before you started dating Elliot," said Hermione. She wanted to get away from Ginny. She was losing swimming time.

Ginny looked hurt. "That has nothing to do with Elliot, alright?" she said, lowering her voice a little, obviously making sure Elliot couldn't hear her. "Then what is it?" asked Hermione. Ginny pursed her lips together and looked everywhere except at Hermione. "No, wait, a second, _who_ is it?" asked Hermione, searching for an answer. "Just leave me alone," said Ginny, turning around and slamming the door in Hermione's face.

Hermione knew Ginny was changing because of one person: Harry Potter. Ginny was still acting the same as before, grabbing Elliot as soon as Harry walked by. Hermione had found it quite annoying, but Elliot seemed not to notice anything, in fact, he enjoyed Ginny's random "horniess", as he described it to his brother.

Hermione's mind wandered away from Ginny and to reality as she walked down the stone steps to go outside. She walked outside and realized it was rather chilly, but she felt like swimming because she'd be alone and it was something to do rather than to watch Ginny and Elliot make out. She set her towel down close to the trees and took off her jacket, shirt, and pants. She walked towards the waters edge, shivering ever so slightly. She placed her foot in it, the icy cold piercing her foot. The lake was actually quite warm compared to how it had been the other nights in November she had done it.

Hermione walked farther into the water, letting her body get used to the cold. As her head hit the water, she suddenly heard her cell phone ringing. She sighed heavily and walked out of the water. She ran to her phone and discovered that Brian had tried to call her. She turned her phone on silent and went to stand up when she saw a figure coming down from the castle.

Hermione could see his red hair in the dim light coming from the castles outside lights. He was humming "Silent Night" as he walked. He didn't even notice Hermione as he laid his towel down by the waters edge and began taking off his clothes, still humming.

Hermione smiled at him as he took off his shirt and pants, revealing maroon swimming trunks. "You know, Christmas isn't for another 27 days," said Hermione, smiling at him. He jumped about a foot in the air and turned to face her.

"Oh my god, Hermione, you scared me half to death," said Ron, smiling at her. "You must be crazy too," said Hermione, referring to the cold weather. "No, the cold just relaxes me," said Ron as he stepped into the water. It took him a moment, but then he dived in. Hermione smiled after him. Even she couldn't have done that. "You are crazy!" she said as his head came up out of the water. "Join me!" he said, trying to get her in the water. Hermione smiled.

"Okay," she said, giving in easily. She walked to the waters edge and went in easily, swimming out to him. "Ready, lets see who can stay under longest," she said spontaneously. He just smiled. "One, two, three," she said, taking a deep breath. They went under, facing each other as they held their breath. Ron looked rather funny underwater, his cheeks puffed out, but he was still beautiful in every way, his red hair flowing in the water.

Hermione came up first, her lungs were most likely not as big as Ron's. Ron came up a second later, smiling. "I won!" said Ron cheerfully. Hermione glared at him playfully. "Let's race, from the middle of the lake to back here," she said, running her hand over her hair to get it out of her face. "Alright, ready, set, go!" said Ron.

As they swam, Hermione could hear Ron's staggered breathing beside her, and then he wasn't anymore, he had fallen behind. When Hermione knew she was at the middle of the lake, she began swimming back, she passed Ron on her way there. She swam back carefully and freely to the spot they had been in before, coming up and breathing in deeply as she watched Ron swim back to her. He had only been about 3 seconds behind her.

"Damn, you won," he said, laughing as he came up, gasping for air. Hermione then took the time to realize just how cold it was outside. "We'd better go, its freezing, and I think its nearly midnight," said Hermione. She began walking out of the water. She then felt something scratch hard against her leg. "OUCH!" she yelled, jerking her hand down to her leg. She ran her hand over the gash and pulled it up out of the water. She could see faint traces of red on her hand.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Ron yelled, suddenly moving faster to reach her. "My leg, I cut it on something," she said, wincing in pain. Ron led her out of the water and to the spot where his towel was, he picked it up and pulled it around her. "I'll get your stuff and we'll fix up that cut in my office," he said, walking to get her clothes and towel. "No, no, it's okay," said Hermione, holding the towel against herself. "I can go to the nurse," she said. "It's midnight, the nurse isn't there anymore, and I have a first aid kit in my office, come on," he said. Holding her clothes in one hand and the other around her back, Ron led Hermione to the school. "It was probably a stick, the lakes filled with them," said Ron on their way to the castle.

They passed no one on their way to his office, most likely teachers had not yet began patrolling since it was so close to midnight. The blood was pouring down Hermione's leg, she couldn't believe she had gotten cut so badly. The cut was very deep and nearly 2 inches long across her right leg, a little above her knee. It hurt terribly. "Use my towel to wipe the blood off," said Ron. "No, no, I can use mine," she said, reaching for it. "No, use mine," he urged. Hermione did as she was told and brought the towel down enough to wipe away some of the blood. It stained Ron's blue towel and Hermione felt a surge of remorse. She was so clumsy.

Ron's office looked nearly the same as it had before, nothing had really changed. "Sit on the desk," he said, and he began searching for something in a cabinet that was on the far right wall. Hermione walked to his desk and pushed aside a stack of papers so she could sit. Ron found the first aid kit and set it down next to Hermione on the desk. "We have to stop the bleeding," he said, opening up the first aid kit. "Let me see the cut," he said. Hermione had the towel over it, and she let the towel come off her body. Ron stared at her for a moment, before literally shaking his head and reaching for something inside the first aid kit. He used the towel to wipe away most of the blood from her legs, taking care to rub it repeatedly down her leg, his other hand on her left thigh, grasping it firmly.

Next, after the bleeding had almost completely stopped, he found peroxide and put it on a cotton ball. He squeezed the cotton ball over the cut and the peroxide fell into it, the infection bubbling out. Hermione winced in pain as the cut stung worse than ever, but Ron's right hand began rubbing her thigh comfortingly. "Unh," she moaned, she didn't know if it was because Ron was touching her or because her cut felt like it was on fire. He did it several times until no more infection came out.

"We need it to dry before I put ointment on it," he said. He held his leg with both of his hands and began blowing cool air on the cut. Hermione felt icy relief as soon as he did. She suddenly grabbed his arms with her hands. He jumped at the sudden contact.

"It's not bad, but you might want to go to the nurse tomorrow," said Ron, taking one hand off her leg. He reached into the kit and got out antibiotic ointment. "Do you wanna do it?" he asked. Hermione, having only been staring at him and not what he was doing, looked at him oddly. "It?" she asked, her eyes getting wide. He held up the ointment. "Oh, no, you can do it," said Hermione, flustered. He unscrewed the lid and put some ointment on his finger. He rubbed it gently along her cut, taking care not to press too hard. He did it for much too long but Hermione didn't mind.

He then got out some bandages to place over the cut, having to use a couple large ones to cover the distance. He pressed his hand down so that the bandage would stick, and then patted her leg softly. "That should hold up for tonight," he said, taking his hands off her legs. Hermione, however, reached forward and put them back on her legs. She glided them along her legs. Ron could only look at her, surprised by what she was doing. Still holding his hands in hers, Hermione stood up off the desk.

"Hermione, what are you doing?" he asked her. She did not reply. She slid his hands up her body to wrap around her waist. She pulled hers up to grasp the soft part on the back of his neck. "Hermione?" he said. She shushed him quickly. She brought her head closer to his. "Hermione, I can't do this," he said, pulling away from her.

He looked over at her, sitting half naked on his desk, and knew he wanted to so badly. But he also knew he couldn't do anything. He was her teacher and it was inappropriate. Hermione put her head down. "I-I was just trying to get a bug out of your hair," said Hermione, laughing at him. He jerked his hands up and ran it through his hair. He felt something hard and a water beetle flew out of his hair and onto his floor. "Oh," said Ron, now the one to be flustered.

Hermione laughed. She stood up from the desk and walked over to Ron. "Thank you, Ron, er, Mr. Weasley," she said. He smiled down at her. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek. Ron wrapped his arms around her as well, his hands touching just above the bottom of her bikini.

He had never felt this way about anyone before. Hermione held him so tightly and when she kissed him on the cheek, he felt so amazing. But she was his student, and he couldn't. It was against the rules. It was wrong.

Hermione released him. "I better go," she said, picking up her clothes and wrapping her towel around her. "Oh, right, yeah," said Ron, walking back around his desk. She smiled at him and departed, the door to his office closing with a light snap as she left. Ron sank back into his chair and rubbed his eyes tiredly. He didn't want her to go. He wanted her to stay and make love to her all night. If only she was not his student he could do just that, for Hermione Granger was the woman of his dreams.


	6. How It's Supposed To Be

"Hey Ginny," said Harry, his fingers brushing against her arm as she walked to class. Luckily Harry did not notice the goosebumps that had just appeared on Ginny's arm. Ginny glared at him and tried to walk faster to her next class. Harry was just as quick as she was though. "Why don't you want to talk?" he asked, following her as she took her usual detour to her next class. The corridor they were in was completely empty.

"What's there to talk about?" she asked, stopping in her tracks and glaring at him. "Well, there's something I could do that we could talk about," said Harry mysteriously. Ginny twisted her face up at him. "Go away," she said angrily. "Why do you hate me?" he asked, his feet shifting slowly toward her. "I-I don't," she said, backing up slowly. "Then why aren't you ever nice to me?" he asked, moving still closer towards her. Ginny had now backed herself up until she had hit the wall. Harry was still inching toward her. "Because I don't want to be," said Ginny, trying to dodge him, but his hands moved swiftly up to meet her shoulders and he stepped forward even closer.

"Harry, get off of m--" she began, but his lips were already on hers. Her books fell out of her hands as her hands curled themselves back to touch the wall in helplessness. She couldn't move. She couldn't think either. Harry's body was pressed entirely against hers. She could feel, through her pants and his own, that he was becoming hard. It took Ginny a moment before she realized she had been kissing him back, her mouth moving rhythmically with his. A small groan escaped her throat as he kissed her, his erection pressing into her. He pulled away for a mere second to see her reaction.

Her eyes were closed and he could tell she was silently begging for more, so he pushed his lips to hers again, his hands moving from her shoulders to her hair, to her waist, to her back. Her hands were wrapped in his jet black hair, and he pulled her away from the wall and led her to the nearest empty classroom. He pushed the door open quickly and they stumbled inside, closing the door quickly behind them. They pushed the materials off the teachers desk and Ginny laid down on it with Harry getting on top of her. Ginny's hands moved immediately down to Harry's belt and undid it. She then unbuttoned his pants and pulled down his zipper. Just as he was about to do the same to her, the door burst open and they jumped off the desk, Harry quickly fixing his belt and pants.

"Ginny!" cried Hermione. "Hermione, we…I--" began Ginny. Harry finished redoing his belt and looked from Hermione to Ginny repeatedly. Ginny's face became very red and she ran back to the door and pulled Hermione through it, leaving Harry inside. "What was that?" cried Hermione as Ginny frantically ran to pick up her fallen books. Ginny did not speak to Hermione as she rushed down the hallway. "Ginny!" cried Hermione, grabbing her friend's arm as they turned the corner and out of the hallway. Ginny whipped around to face Hermione.

"I don't know what it was, okay? It just happened," she said, beginning to once again walk swiftly to her and Hermione's next class, which, fortunately for Ginny, was not Harry's next class. "Ginny, things like that don't just happen!" said Hermione as they entered a hallway full of teenagers chatting loudly.

Just then, Elliot appeared beside Ginny and draped his arm around her. He kissed her. When he pulled away he looked at her oddly, moved his lips around in an odd manner, looked down, and shook his head quickly. Ginny noticed. "What?" she asked him, her arm around his waist. "You just...well, you taste different," he said. Just then they reached their next class and stepped inside, not allowing Ginny to reply to Elliot's comment.

----

The Christmas Ball was just around the corner, to be held on Christmas Eve night. Anita, Brian, and Alex had once again showed up at the mall when Hermione was supposed to be looking for a dress. "Ask someone!" said Anita. "I can't!" said Hermione. "It's lady's choice!" said Brian. "How did you.." she began, but once again she forgot that they could see everything she was doing. "Fine, fine, I'll ask someone," she said, moving to leave the bathroom. "Granger," said Brian, walking over to her. "Keep the camera on, I'm sick of you deciding you want to keep it off some days. We need to see everything so we can help you find a story," he said. Hermione glared at him and left, muttering curse words under her breath.

She found Ginny in a dress store at the other end of the mall. She was looking at an assortment of purple dresses in the back of the store. Ginny had not mentioned what had happened with Harry since that day. Hermione had tried to bring it up many times, but Ginny always found something else to talk about, like the way Elliot always tickled her or cuddled with her. It made Hermione puke.

Hermione came up behind her as Ginny pulled out an extremely elegant and beautiful lavender gown. "That one," said Hermione. Ginny held it up to herself. "You think so?" she said, looking in a long mirror. "Yes, go, go try it on," chuckled Hermione, as Ginny went into the fitting room. Hermione had no idea what color she wanted, nor what her size was, as being a journalist did not require her to dress up that much.

She walked over to an assortment of green dresses and began looking through them. One in particular she saw looked amazing to her, and after holding it up to her, she determined it was most likely her size and went into the fitting room next to Ginny's to try it on. She had a little trouble tying the back up, but she eventually got it and stepped outside to look in the mirror. She joined Ginny, who was looking at herself in the full length mirror outside the fitting rooms. "Does it look good?" asked Ginny. "Of course," said Hermione, smiling at her friend. "What about mine?" asked Hermione. "The green looks really good, Hermione," said Ginny.

"Ginny, here's the rest of the money mum sent," came a voice from the front of the store. "In the back," said the clerk. Ron appeared next to a rack of dresses, holding an envelope in his hands. He first looked over at Ginny, and then at Hermione. He seemed not to be able to take his eyes off her. Hermione looked down and realized that the dress revealed very much of her breasts and folded her arms across her chest. Ron seemed to come out of his trance and handed the envelope to Ginny. "So, Ron, how do we look?" asked Ginny. "Well, Ginny, you look very pretty, but keep covered up," he said jokingly to her. Ginny smiled at him and rolled her eyes. "What about Hermione?" asked Ginny. Ron looked over at Hermione. "You look beautiful," he said. "Thanks," said Hermione smiling.

"Well, I better go, gotta get a new tux, I seemed to have grown out of mine from last year, see ya," he said, leaving the store. Hermione and Ginny changed back into their clothes and bought the dresses. "Hermione, we're going to look so good!" said Ginny excitedly, clapping her hands together. "I know," said Hermione, "I just hope I'll be able to find someone to ask."

---

Luckily for Hermione, finding someone to ask did not happen. Although it was lady's choice, she had many offers for dates, however she turned down most of them. 10th, 11th and 12th graders were the only ones allowed to go to the Christmas Ball, however dates could be younger. Hermione had had offers from boys as young as 6th grade to go with her. She, however, reluctantly agreed to go with Joshua, who had surprised her with a single red rose after she came out of Ron's class.

As Christmas Eve approached, Ginny became more and more ready to lash out at anyone who dared mess with her. Harry Potter had agreed to go with his girlfriend Cho to the ball. Ginny had told Hermione, around 4 times, that she didnt care what Harry Potter did, even though Hermione never asked her if she did. Joshua had been hanging around Hermione quite a bit nowadays after she had accepted his offer. Hermione tried to act happy, but her mind always went back to Ron Weasley.

---

"I want to talk about what happened, Ginny," said Harry, cornering her one day in the same empty corridor they had been in before. Ginny had refused to take this route, and that day had been the first that she had since what happened. Harry, however, clearly anxious to talk with her, had went that way every day, hoping she would one day decide to go that way again.

"No," said Ginny simply. "Please," said Harry, giving her puppy dog eyes. "Look what happened..." she began. He raised his eyebrows at her as she searched for words. "I'm with Elliot, and y-you're with Cho, it's how its supposed to be," she said, trying not to tear up. "Well, what," he too now searching for words. "What if you and me are supposed to be?" he said. Ginny looked at him, clearly wanting to say something. She however, began walking down the corridor. "Just stay away from me," she said, the tears beginning to fall.

---

Well, that's it for now. I'm hoping to get another chapter of Drifting Together done tonight as I promised. The next chapter will be the Christmas Ball, and expect a lot of snogging! I will hopefully have this updated by next week. Reviews are nice. Thanks.


	7. The Dance Part 1: Ginny

Sorry to say there will be only a small bit of Ron/Hermione in this chapter. This chapter is mainly Ginny/Elliot/Harry during the dance. Ron/Hermione/Joshua will be in the next chapter. This chapter is one of the most explicit chapters in the story, so don't read if you can't handle it! :)

* * *

"Why are you crying?" asked Hermione, tying the back of her dress perfectly. Her hair was already done and she was now fiddling with her makeup, putting the eyeshadow on perfectly. "I'm not," said Ginny, quickly using her finger to clear her eye of the wetness. Hermione put down her eyeshadow and walked over to Ginny.

"You know you could've chose him, you know he wanted you," said Hermione, bringing her friend into a hug, making sure they didn't ruin either of their dresses. "I know," said Ginny into Hermione's shoulder, "but Elliot's been so wonderful, I don't want to hurt him."

Hermione released Ginny. "That's because you're a good person," said Hermione, smiling at her friend. Ginny smiled back. Hermione reached up and wiped the tears away. "Have fun tonight, don't let him ruin your night," she said. Ginny slowly lifted her head up. "Yeah," she nodded. "I'm not going to worry about it," she said, beginning to apply her makeup. Hermione smiled, though for some reason she didn't believe what Ginny was saying.

After applying their makeup and putting the final touches on their dresses and hair, the girls opened up their door. Joshua and Elliot were waiting in the hallway, each holding a corsage matching their dates dress. "You look beautiful," said Joshua. Elliot said the same to Ginny and they each placed the corsage around Hermione and Ginny's wrists. "Shall we?" said Joshua, leading Hermione down the stairs.

* * *

"Where's Elliot?" asked Hermione, looking around her and Ginny to see if he was anywhere. "Drunk out of his mind," said Ginny, sighing and looking down, "I had some of his friends take him upstairs to sleep."

"Oh, Ginny, I'm sorry," said Hermione, placing her hand lightly on Ginny's shoulder. "Yeah, I think I'm gonna go, you know, I just don't want this night to get any worse, see ya in the morning," she said, smiling at Hermione and sticking her arm up halfway to give a half-hearted wave. Hermione smiled after her friend as Joshua grabbed Hermione and pulled her by the waist back out onto the dance floor.

Hermione began laughing as Joshua did a few odd dance moves. "Where did you learn to dance?" chuckled Hermione, dancing slowly to the music. "VH1," he said, causing both he and Hermione to laugh so hard they cried.

Hermione was having a great time, but she still felt bad about Ginny being upset. The song ended and Hermione decided she needed a drink. Joshua followed her, pouring her drink for her and then getting one for himself. They sat down at a table and began joking and laughing. Joshua placed his hand on Hermione's and she let him keep it there. She smiled, her face rather red. He was, after all, a bit younger than her.

Hermione finished her punch and set the cup back down on the table. Joshua stood up and held his hand out to her. Instead of going back out on the dance floor, he led her out into the entrance hall where a few couples were laughing and talking with eachother. He led her to the wall opposite, away from everyone else. "I really like you Hermione," he said. Hermione was leaning against the wall. "I like you too," she blurted out. She didn't want to be rude, did she?

Joshua smiled. "That's what I've been waiting to hear," he said, and he stepped forward and pushed his lips against hers. He pulled back to see her response. Thats when Hermione saw him, out of the corner of her eye. Ron was standing near the doorway to the Dining Hall, looking over at them. He was looking murderous, and Hermione, having fun with this, grabbed the back of Joshua's head and pulled his lips to hers. Joshua eagerly responded and stuck his tongue down her throat. Hermione moved her head and opened her eyes. Ron was walking swiftly toward them, his arms held firmly down by his sides.

Hermione pulled away from Joshua. "Let's go upstairs," she said, and winked at him. Joshua smiled a toothy grin at her, and grabbed her hand. Hermione began running, and Joshua followed suit, thinking Hermione wanted to get get upstairs quickly, not knowing she was actually trying to make sure Ron couldn't get to them before they managed to get upstairs. Hermione turned just before she rounded the corner, disappointed to see Ron looking down dejected and walking back towards the Dining Hall.

She began walking now, Joshua following suit, clearly not caring rather they ran or walk, just wanting to do it no matter what. Joshua led her to one of his friends rooms, as he knew Elliot was asleep in theirs, and Hermione immediately began taking off his clothes. "Woah, slow down," said Joshua as she unbuttoned his shirt. "Why?" asked Hermione, smiling at him. He chuckled lightly and began kissing her fiercely, to which she eagerly responded.

* * *

"Oh, Ginny, I'm sorry," said Hermione, hugging her friend quickly. Ginny muttered something about going upstairs and lifted her hand half-heartedly to wave and turned and left the Dining Hall. She planned to go upstairs and sleep as long as she could. The journey up to her room felt like it took forever, so she removed her heels and was able to walk a lot faster. She finally reached her and Hermione's room, unlocked the door and walked inside. She nearly fell on her butt when she walked in, as she slipped on a folded up piece of paper. "What the hell?" she said, managing to balance herself. She bent down and picked up the piece of paper.

_Love,_

_Meet me in Room 127. I'm sorry, but I had to pretend to be drunk so people wouldn't be suspicious if we went off together. Your brother was watching us I believe, and he was giving me extremely dirty looks. I'll be there when you get there. _

_Love, Elliot_

Ginny smiled to herself, of course Elliot would do something like that to be with her. Ginny went into the room, freshened up her makeup and fixed her hair so it was perfect. She was already wearing her best underwear and her best strapless bra, so she did not need to change. She looked in the mirror. _This is the last time I'll look in the mirror and see a virgin_, thought Ginny, smiling, and also beginning to be a little bit nervous.

She put her heels back on and folded up the note and set it on her dresser. She got another clean sheet of paper and wrote a small note to Hermione, telling her not to worry if Ginny wasn't there when she got back. Ginny set the note down on Hermione's bed, and walked towards the door. _This is it, _she thought to herself. She turned the handle and stepped outside the room, not even bothering to lock it. Her stomach was doing flip-flops, and she couldn't quite figure out if she was excited or nervous.

She walked and walked until she reached the first floor. She passed the staircase and looked down upon the few people standing in the entrance hall. The first two people she noticed were Hermione and Joshua, who had pinned Hermione against a wall away from everyone else, kissing fiercely. Ginny raised her eyebrows, not knowing Hermione had liked Joshua so much. She continued walking however, and finally reached the hallway with room 127.

Ginny was hit with a sense of deja vu. This was the exact room she and Harry had, well, almost done something. It seemed most people chose this room to do things in because the clumsy English teacher Mr. Barricks always forgot to lock it. Ginny walked to the door, scared of what was going to happen when she walked in. She turned the handle and stepped inside. It was pitch black inside, and she moved to the flip the light switch. However, the light did not turn on when she did this, so she gave up and tried to look around to see where she was, considering waiting and sitting on a desk.

Maybe Elliot needed to go freshen up too. Just then, she heard a noise from behind her, and a hand grabbed her arm. She smiled as Elliot turned her around. "Elliot, you're a good actor," was all she said before their lips met. They stumbled backwards towards the wall near the door, and his hand moved out and slammed the door shut as Ginny pushed into him and against the wall.

She had thought that she'd be more nervous, but the second she had kissed him she knew it was right. His hands found every inch of her body, and she began moving her hips forward against his in a teasing manner, basically screwing him through their clothes. She heard him moan slightly and laughed, continuing the motion as she could feel his erection getting harder by the second. He began moaning slightly, and then began kissing her neck, his tongue finding every inch of it.

Ginny was getting wet. She began moaning, continuing the thrusting motion, making sure his erection was pressing directly where it should. She was beginning to get frustrated, wanting him so bad it killed her, but thinking of someone else the entire time. She knew she was going to do it anyways, she couldn't keep thinking about who she couldn't have.

"Desk," she moaned. He understood her immediately, and picked her up and took her to the teachers desk. He sat her on it. "Damnit!" she suddenly said, and stopped kissing him. He didn't say anything. "I think I pricked my finger with a tack," she said, and remembering where the lamp was, she moved her hand swiftly and turned it on. However, instead of worrying about the blood slowly coming out of her finger, she was more surprised to see that it wasn't Elliot in front of her. It was Harry.

"You fucking bastard!" she screamed, getting up off the desk and pushing past him. He hurried after her as she rushed towards the door. "Don't leave," he said, putting himself in between her and the door. "Move, right now Harry," she said, trying to push past him. "I will, if you tell me you feel nothing when I do this," he said, and quickly pushed his lips against hers. She pushed him away.

"Get the fuck off of me! You were going to trick me, make me think you were Elliot, how could you?" she yelled. "I was going to tell you before we did too much, but I knew you wouldn't come if it was me you thought you were meeting," he said, trying to restrain her from leaving. "I hate you, Harry, I hate you," she said. "That's the problem," he said, pulling her to him and holding her so tightly she couldn't move her arms. "You want to hate me, but you don't," he said, and he began to kiss her neck again, causing her to emit a groan. She cursed at herself in her head and pushed him away. "I swear, I will scream at the top of my lungs if you don't let me leave," she said, truly ready to scream. "I want you to scream," he said, "but not for that reason."

Ginny gave him a disgusted look. "Puh-lease, if you think I'm going to let you--" she began. He was much too quick for her. He pushed himself against her, his erection pressing into her and began kissing her fiercely, his tongue plunging into her mouth and exploring every part of it. "Don't fight it," said Harry, only breaking the kiss for a mere second. Ginny groaned and, not being able to stop herself, begin kissing him back. She wrapped her arms around and his neck and placed a hand in his hair, holding the back of his head firmly so their lips wouldn't break contact.

_It was true. She wanted to hate him. Hate him for tricking her. For making her love him when she was supposed to love Elliot. But she couldn't. Not now. Not ever._

Harry pushed the things on the teachers desk off and lifted Ginny onto it. He lifted the dress over her head carefully and laid it on a nearby students desk. Ginny pulled his jacket off of him and began unbuttoning his shirt, revealing a white wifebeater. She lifted that over his head, and then began kissing him again as he climbed onto the desk and on top of her. He rolled up his jacket and made a sort of pillow for her as she laid her head down on it as they continued kissing.

Harry reached back and unsnapped her bra. Ginny swallowed loudly, but nodded when he gave her a questioning look. He took the bra off of her and stared down at her breasts. He couldn't help himself, he wanted every part of Ginny tonight. He bent down and began kissing and sucking on them. Ginny moaned very loudly, a shiver running down her body as he played with her nipples, using his tongue to draw circles around them. He loved teasing her.

Ginny unbuttoned his pants and pulled them off of him, although the process was difficult considering they were laying on a desk. They were both naked except for their underpants, Ginny's being a red lacy one she had gotten from Victoria's Secret at the mall one time, and his being his plain black boxers. He was laying completely on top of her. The erection pressing into her made her even more wet as the rhythm of their kissing causes him to move his body occasionally, his cock pressing into her wetness.

He stopped kissing her and reached down and slid her panties off of her. He went back up and kissed her on the mouth, and then allowed his fingers to trace the edge of her opening, playing with some of the very few hairs she had down there. Two of his fingers mounted at her opening, he slowly pushed them into her. They went in somewhat easily as she was already practically soaked down there, but it still hurt her very much.

She moaned in pain, but at the same time pleasure as he went in and out with his fingers, licking his lips and closing his eyes as he enjoyed every second. She managed to reach her arms down far enough and pulled his boxers off of him as he fingered her. He suddenly stopped and pulled his fingers out of her. Ginny could see the wetness on them, and couldn't want for the real thing to be inside her. Their heads level again, he leaned down and kissed her.

They shifted their position so that he was on the bottom and she was sitting on him, his cock placed directly under her wetness. She moved back slightly, looking a tad scared at first, but she was now licking her lips and waiting for him to approve. He nodded as she looked at him and smiled. She breathed in and out once, and slowly slid down upon him. She whimpered loudly as his entire cock fit inside her. She did not move for a second, trying to get herself to open up more and adjust to his size. She moaned loudly, and he couldn't help himself. He grabbed her lovehandles, or what her skinny little body had, and lifted her up slightly and pulled her back down. He needed this. He wanted her to be comfortable but he couldn't wait.

She whimpered more, breathing heavily and trying to allow herself to adjust to him. He did this slowly, waiting for her to speed up and begin the process that would lead to their orgasms. She slowly adjusted, and his hands started to grab her tighter as she moved up and down on him very quickly. They both moaned loudly as she continued the process. Harry was watching as her tiny body moved rhythmically on him, moving him backwards and forwards on the desk.

They went at it for what seemed like hours, but finally Harry felt himself coming and exploded inside of her, causing her to screech in agony. She rolled off of him and laid next to him on the desk, allowing her body to adjust. She was very tired. Never had she imagined sex would be that tiring. Harry was breathing hard. "Damn," he said, smiling rather stupidly. Ginny chuckled. "That was.." she said, leaning over and kissing him. "The best thing I've ever experienced," she said truthfully. "Ginny," said Harry, placing his hand on hers. They were both still breathing hard, and Ginny could feel his breath coming steadily faster as he prepared for what he was about to say. "I love you," he said, really meaning it. Ginny looked over at him and smiled.

"Ginny, open the god damn door!" he yelled from outside. Ginny and Harry immediately sat up and began throwing their clothes back on. "GINNY!" he yelled, just as Ginny had pulled her dress over her head. He kicked the door down and took in the sight in front of him. Harry Potter buttoning up his shirt and Ginny pulling the dress over her head. "You SON OF A BITCH!" he yelled, walking forward and punching Harry in the face, causing Harry to stumble backwards and trip over one of dress shoes he was about to put on.

Ginny winced as the sound of his head against the desk filled her ears. It was like wood hitting wood, except a small crack rang in her ears. Elliot stood there for a moment, taking in the scene, and then ran out of the room and out of sight. Ginny rushed to Harry's side as the blood began to spill onto the floor. "HELP!" screamed Ginny at the top of her lungs, screaming. "HELP!" she screamed again. Almost at once she heard footsteps approaching.

Several couples appeared in the doorway, the girls putting their hands over their mouths and screaming loudly, the sight of the blood causing one to pass out into the arms of her date. "Call 911!" said Ginny. One of the boys got their cell phone out and dialed the three numbers. "He'll never make it," said one of the girls, "he's losing too much blood." Ginny whimpered. "Go get the nurse," she said, as Harry's blood began staining her dress. "She's not here! She's on vacation," said one of the other girls as more people began appearing in the doorway, several screaming, some girls beginning to cry and guys beginning to curse loudly.

"Go get my brother, Mr. Weasley. He should be in his office!" said Ginny quickly. "Get out of the fucking way!" someone shouted as the crowd parted for whoever it was. Cho appeared, wearing her tight blue dress, her breasts popping out of it. She ran forward and sank down next to Harry. "What the hell happened?" she asked, caressing his cheek with her hand. "Elliot.." was all Ginny could say. Several of the boys began cursing and ran off, most likely going to try and find Elliot.

Joshua soon came inside the door. "What the hell happened here?" he asked, looking scared half to death at the sight of Harry laying motionless on the floor, his head in a pool of blood. Several people were screaming and both Ginny and Cho were crying hysterically. "Where's Hermione?" asked Ginny, looking up at him. Joshua looked down at her. He gave her a guilty look and licked his lips, smiling rather stupidly, especially for where he was and the sight in front of him.

Ginny shook her head back and forth and looked back down at Harry. "Why did Elliot do this?" asked Cho, waiting for Ginny's reply. As Ginny began to answer, she shot out another question. "Why the hell were you in here with him?" asked Cho, noticing some of the clothes laying on the floor, and the bare teachers desk behind her. Ginny only began crying harder, looking down at her bloodstained hands and Harry's unmoving body. Cho took her finger to Harry's neck. She looked back up in horror.

"There's no pulse."

* * *

I will admit it, sex scenes are not my thing. I've never really taken the time to look up terms on sex, nor have I ever really been interested in knowing all of the graphic terms that apply to sex. I think I got the point across though that they had sex, really good sex, and both absolutely loved it. Next chapter will be up hopefully before the 4th of January. Thanks for reading!


	8. The Dance Part 2: Hermione

The Dining Hall had been decorated with hundreds of red and green decorations. The long, rectangular tables had been replaced with around 30 or so smaller, circular tables that seated about 8. Joshua and Elliot led Hermione and Ginny to an empty table to put down their purses. The band Paramore was playing on a large stage at the far end of the Hall.

"Shall we?" said Joshua, holding his hand out for Hermione to take. Hermione chuckled and grabbed his hand, the two walking over to the crowd of people dancing, followed closely by Elliot and Ginny. They began dancing to "That's What You Get". After about an hour of dancing crazy, Joshua had to, in his own words, "take a piss". He left Hermione at the end of Misery Business, just as a slow song came on. Hermione went and sat down at their table where the purses were, placing her hand on the table, and examining the flower he had gotten her.

"May I have this dance?" said a voice behind her. Hermione turned, expecting to see Joshua, but it was instead Ron. He was holding his hand out for her to take. Hermione looked down and smiled, she placed her hand lightly on his and he squeezed hers a little harder as he led her onto the dance floor, where several couples were already dancing. They went closer to the wall, so not as many people would see them. When they stopped, Ron placed his hands on her waist and pulled her close to him, so that she could smell his sweet, tangy breath, which had most likely came from the punch.

Hermione placed her hands around his neck, smiling up at him as he smiled back. They didn't speak for a moment, too immersed in the awkwardness of the situation to even think of speaking. Hermione kept her head down, unable to look into his face. Ron's hand moved from her waist to her chin, lightly pushing it up. "Don't look down," he said, placing his hand back on her waist, "I want to see your eyes."

Hermione smiled at him, nervously biting her lip. For a moment, she actually felt like a high school student with a crush on her teacher. How pathetic.

"So are you enjoying the dance?" he asked. "It's been fun, I just feel..." Hermione began. She seemed not to be able to find the right words. "Feel what?" Ron asked eagerly. He then used his hands to pull her closer to him, Hermione now was so close she could feel the heat radiating off his body. His tangy, sweet breath filled her nostrils. "You're my teacher, I can't talk to you about it," she said, feeling slightly upset, mainly because she knew she could talk to him about it, and wanted to more than anything.

"Right," said Ron, looking slightly dejected. Hermione could feel herself slowly moving closer to him as the song progressed, now so close her chest was pressed against him. "Hermione this thing, that we have," began Ron, looking down at her and pushing her slightly away from him, "it just...can't happen."

Hermione looked up at him. "What thing?" she said, trying to sound completely innocent. She didn't know why she said it; she knew what thing he was talking about. Everything that had happened between them so far had been subtle hints as to how they felt about eachother. "You know what I'm talking about," he said firmly, pushing her further away.

Hermione looked down for a moment, and then back up again. "I think you read into things too much," she said. "I think of you as a teacher, nothing else," she said, bringing him so close to her if they moved even a centimeter forward their lips would meet. Ron gulped loudly. His hand reached up to her face. His fingers stroked her cheek, he clearly couldn't resist. He began to move forward when the song ended and they began to play a faster one. They jumped apart. Hermione smiled as he backed away from her. "You're my student, lets keep it at that," was all he said before he turned and walked away, his hands in his pockets.

No one had noticed their encounter on the dance floor and Hermione began walking back to the table when she saw Ginny watching as two guys carried Elliot out of the Dining Hall, trying to keep him concealed from the teachers standing around.

"Where's Elliot?" asked Hermione, looking around her and Ginny to see if he was anywhere. "Drunk out of his mind," said Ginny, sighing and looking down, "I had some of his friends take him upstairs to sleep."

"Oh, Ginny, I'm sorry," said Hermione, placing her hand lightly on Ginny's shoulder. "Yeah, I think I'm gonna go, you know, I just don't want this night to get any worse, see ya in the morning," she said, smiling at Hermione and sticking her arm up halfway to give a half-hearted wave. Hermione smiled after her friend as Joshua grabbed Hermione and pulled her by the waist back out onto the dance floor.

Hermione began laughing as Joshua did a few odd dance moves. "Where did you learn to dance?" chuckled Hermione, dancing slowly to the music. "VH1," he said, causing Hermione to laugh so hard she cried.

Hermione was having a great time, but she still felt bad about Ginny being upset. The song ended and Hermione decided she needed a drink. Joshua followed her, pouring her drink for her and then getting one for himself. They sat down at a table and began joking and laughing. Joshua placed his hand on Hermione's leg and she let him keep it there. She smiled, her face rather red. He was, after all, a bit younger than her.

Hermione finished her punch and set the cup back down on the table. Joshua stood up and held his hand out to her. Instead of going back out on the dance floor, he led her out into the entrance hall where a few couples were laughing and talking with eachother. He led her to the wall opposite, away from everyone else. "I really like you Hermione," he said. Hermione was leaning against the wall. "I like you too," she blurted out. She didn't want to be rude, did she?

Joshua smiled. "That's what I've been waiting to hear," he said, and he stepped forward and pushed his lips against hers. He pulled back to see her response. Thats when Hermione saw him, out of the corner of her eye. Ron was standing near the doorway to the Dining Hall, looking over at them. He was looking murderous, and Hermione, having fun with this, grabbed the back of Joshua's head and pulled his lips to hers. Joshua eagerly responded and shoved his tongue into her mouth. Hermione moved her head and opened her eyes. Ron was walking swiftly toward them, his arms held firmly down by his sides.

Hermione pulled away from Joshua. "Let's go upstairs," she said, and winked at him. Joshua smiled a toothy grin at her, and grabbed her hand. Hermione began running, and Joshua followed suit, thinking Hermione wanted to get get upstairs quickly, not knowing she was actually trying to make sure Ron couldn't get to them before they managed to get upstairs. Hermione turned just before she rounded the corner, disappointed to see Ron looking down dejected and walking back towards the Dining Hall.

She began walking now, Joshua following suit, clearly not caring rather they ran or walk, just wanting to do it no matter what. Joshua led her to one of his friends rooms, as he knew Elliot was asleep in theirs, and Hermione immediately began taking off his clothes. "Woah, slow down," said Joshua as she unbuttoned his shirt. "Why?" asked Hermione, smiling at him. He chuckled lightly and began kissing her fiercely, to which she eagerly responded.

Hermione led Joshua to the bed and pushed him onto it, climbing on top of him awkwardly as she was still in her dress. She finished unbuttoning his jacket and shirt and then lifted his wifebeater over his head. Her train of thought was clouded. What exactly she was doing she didn't know. But she had a feeling as to what she hoped was about to happen. Their mouths crashed against each others as Hermione allowed him to explore her mouth. He moaned loudly and began unzipping the back of her dress. They switched places, Joshua now on top of Hermione and he slowly began to take off her dress.

The door flew open, Hermione not seeing who it was because of Joshua, and he was pulled off of her. "You two know the god damn rules, let's go Hermione," said Ron, grabbing Hermione roughly by the arm. They got to the doorway and Ron then turned sharply towards Joshua. "I'll deal with you later," he said, pointing a finger at him and slamming the door shut. "What the hell were you thinking?" he said, fuming and red faced. "Ron," Hermione said, trying to get him to release her arm.

They reached his office and Ron shut the door behind them. He began pacing in front of Hermione, angrily kicking a box as he walked around his desk and sat at his chair. Hermione just stood there staring at him as he searched for something. He finally found it and began scribbling on it quickly. "I think one week suspension ought to do it," he said, continuing to write on the paper. "What?!" asked Hermione, walking quickly towards his desk.

"You know what you did was wrong, Hermione," he said. Hermione smiled, not in a happy manner, but more in a sarcastic one. "You son of a bitch," she said, folding her arms in front of her. He stood up out of his chair and walked around his desk to stand directly in front of her. "What did you say?" he said, his face red with anger. "Pretend for 5 seconds that you're not a damn stuck up snobby teacher and be normal," she said.

Ron laughed. "I can't believe a beautiful, bright 18 year old like yourself is gonna throw her life away by acting like a damn slut. Probably going to be pregnant before you're 20 the way you're going," he said, scratching his nose offhandedly. Hermione reached her hand up and slapped him so hard his face became even more red. "You fucking asshole, just because you're unhappy doesn't mean we all have to be," she said, turning towards the door.

"I'm unhappy,? What about not even an hour ago when you wanted to say something to me when we were dancing? You clearly were not having a very good time," he said. Hermione glared at him. "Fuck you," said Hermione, reaching for the doorknob. "You're not leaving," said Ron from behind her, and he ran forward and put his hand on hers. Hermione couldn't fight it. Not even then, when they were fighting. Electric currents went through her body the moment he touched her. He seemed to have felt the same thing, as his eyes closed for a split second, as if he were savoring the moment.

Ron turned her around with his arm and pressed her against the wall, pushing himself against her. Hermione couldn't breathe for a second. She couldn't believe what he was doing, pushing himself against her, his hands cupping her neck. "Y-you can't just think I'm going to...we were just fighting," said Hermione, stumbling on her words. Ron looked down at her. "I don't want to fight anymore," said Hermione, sighing. "I don't want to fight either," said Ron, pulling away from her and walking back to his desk, his head in his hands. He groaned loudly and turned back to face Hermione. "It's been a long night, why don't we talk about what happened tomorrow," he said, opening the door for her.

Hermione looked at him for a moment, put her head down, and walked out the door. She took a step outside it and turned back to face Ron, who looked at her with such pain in his eyes she felt the pain too. She continued walking and stepped down the stairs as she heard his door shut. She reached the door to his classroom when it suddenly hit her.

This was it, this was what she wanted. Him. She didn't care about the assignment anymore, she wanted him, she needed him. He was the one. The one she'd been searching for for years. She couldn't let him slip away. She turned and walked back across the classroom quickly. She walked as quick as she could and flew up the stairs. She considered knocking, but her instinct told her otherwise and she put her hand on the knob and the door flew open. Ron was not in the part of his office where his desk was, so she shut the door behind her loudly and ran back through the door to where his bed and other things were. Ron appeared in the doorway, his jacket off, and began to speak. "Did you forget some--" he began.

Hermione jumped into his arms. His hands immediately wrapped around her. "I can't do this anymore," said Hermione, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I want you," she said, and with that she pulled him to her and kissed him. Ron kissed her back so passionately he lifted her off her feet. His tongue explored her mouth, finding every spot, colliding with her tongue and leaving a sweet taste in her mouth. "Hermione," he moaned, and he carried her to the bed. She fell onto it and he climbed on top of her.

Neither could think. It was as if their minds had gone completely blank, clouding any other thoughts except ones of eachother. Ron began to pull down her dress. Hermione began to help him, the combined effort getting her dress off twice as fast. Hermione smiled as Ron took in her figure: her tiny stomach, her surprisingly large breasts hidden beneath her bra, and her lacy underwear.

"God, you're beautiful," he said, bringing her mouth to his again. Hermione smiled and began to unbutton his shirt quickly, wanting to be with him as soon as possible. "I'm so sorry," he said, watching as she undressed him. "For what?" she said, nearly out of breath. "For fighting with you, I was jealous, I just love you," he said as their mouths met again. He pulled away for a moment. "I love you so much," he said, holding her face as they kissed.

Hermione pushed him away. She had to tell him. She couldn't do this without telling him. "Ron," she began, grabbing his wifebeater shirt and scrunching it up, showing how badly she needed him, but she really needed to tell him. It was essential that she told him before they got too serious. "Ron, there's something I need to tell you," she said, dodging him as he tried to kiss her. "No, no, stop it," she said, pushing him off of her. "What?" asked Ron, licking his lips, clearly wanting to continue kissing her. "I'm not who you think I am," she said, staring into his eyes. He moved away from her slightly. "What do you mean?" he said, staring her down. Hermione sighed. "I'm not a stu--" she began, but she was interrupted by a loud banging on the door.

"MR. WEASLEY!" yelled a girl from the other side of his office door. Ron continued to stare at Hermione, mentally guessing at what the rest of her sentence would have been. However he shook his head no many times and immediately jumped off the bed and put his clothes back on. Hermione threw the dress over her head quickly and zipped it up. "Stay here, come out a few minutes after I leave, no one can know you were here," he said, running out of the room and shutting the door behind him. Hermione heard him open the door and greet the girl who screamed something Hermione could not hear through the door. She heard the door to the office slam and the running footsteps of Ron and the girl.

She waited a few minutes and then rushed out the door, making sure she did not look disheveled at all. She was running to the Dining Hall, to see if Joshua had come back, or if she could find Ron, when she heard the sirens. She was just about to get to the Dining Hall when she saw the crowd of people in a nearby hallway. They were all crowded around the room and Hermione managed to push her way through the crowd to reach the doorway. The sight in front of her was horrifying.

Ginny, Cho, and Ron were all crowded around Harry Potter's lifeless body, Ron trying to stop the bleeding. Ginny was crying into her brothers shoulder, and Cho was silently crying into her hands. Hermione rushed forward to Ginny, Ginny grabbed Hermione, getting blood on her dress and shoulders, and hugged her. Hermione was disgusted, she had to admit, but she decided her friends needs were more important now and she hugged her back, trying not to look at Harry like that.

Ron suddenly spoke. His hand was on Harry's neck. He looked dejected and let go of Harry, setting his head gently down on the floor and putting a bloody hand on Ginny's shoulder. "Gin, I'm so sorry," he said, as Ginny released Hermione and looked over at Ron.

"He's dead."

* * *

Very sad ending I know. Let's just say the night of the dance changed everything and that things will get a lot more complicated in the next couple of chapters. Please continue to read and I appreciate reviews!


	9. A Game, a Breakup, & a Mistletoe

"Gin," someone said very quietly. Ginny tried to lift her head up but found she couldn't. Someone was sitting in the chair next to her, rubbing her back, trying to comfort her. The tears were falling steadily now, causing her eyes to be very red and puffy. "I can't believe this happened!" she said. She lifted her head up to see that it was Hermione who was trying to comfort her.

"I know," said Hermione, holding Ginny as she cried. "But you're going to get through it, and you have a lot of people who are going to help you through it," said Hermione.

"Hey, Ginny, he's awake," said a voice nearby them. Both Hermione and Ginny looked up. Ron had been talking to the nurse at the desk, asking when people would be able to see him. Ginny had jumped out of her chair as soon as she'd heard him say it. She walked quickly and disappeared behind the swinging doors that led to the ICU. Cho, who had been sitting a few chairs away, somehow managing to glare at Ginny while crying loudly, had followed behind Ginny as well. Hermione wondered how Harry would be able to explain to Cho what he had been doing with Ginny.

Ron stood awkwardly, his hands in his pockets a few feet in front of where Hermione was sitting. Hermione couldn't look at him, she just couldn't. She was sure of how she felt, how badly she wanted him, how badly she wanted to fall into his arms and tell him everything, but she couldn't. It would ruin everything.

He was looking at her, clearly trying to catch her eye. She was looking at her lap, at her bloodstained dress, trying to avoid any sort of eye contact at all. She wasn't exactly nervous, but she knew if he looked at her he would try to talk, and she wanted to avoid any conversation at all at that moment. She hadn't exactly known Harry that well, but she was still very upset at the night's events, as she knew Ginny had cared for Harry deeply.

Ron took the opportunity of being alone with Hermione and sat down where Ginny had just been sitting, directly next to Hermione. Hermione tried to turn her head slowly away from him, so slowly that he wouldn't notice, but he spoke much too quickly for her.

"About what happened.." Ron began, looking at his hands as he cracked his knuckles and moved his fingers around awkwardly. Hermione turned towards him. "Ron, I didn't think before I did what I did," said Hermione, trying to explain herself. "Hermione, I--" he started again. "No," Hermione said firmly, "let me finish." Ron sighed and sat back in his chair, prepared to listen to her.

"I wasn't thinking, well I was, but I wasn't thinking straight," she paused for a moment, trying to keep the tears from falling from her eyes. Ron could only look at her as she spoke. "I do have feelings for you, but you know as well as I, that nothing more can happen," she said, a pained expression on her face.

Ron waited for a moment before he spoke, trying to get his words together. "I can't deny my feelings for you," he said, holding his head in his hands. "I want to believe that we can go on another 5 or so months, without anything else happening, but I don't believe I could control myself around you for that long," he said, looking over at her. They stared at eachother a moment, their eyes locked into eachothers. "I don't trust myself," he said, staring back down at his hands.

Hermione looked over at him, and as much as it pained her to do it, she had to say it, she had to do it for the sake of her job. "What happened between us...it was wonderful. And I've never felt like this before," she said truthfully. Ron looked over at her and smiled. "But I can't do this," she said, refusing to look at him, although out of the corner of her eye she could see him looking at her, a pained expression on his face.

"You are my teacher, and I let my emotions get the best of me. I can't let that happen," she said, closing her eyes, hoping her eyelids would block the tears waiting to fall. "Look, Hermione, I took an oath to never do anything like this, to never be a teacher who would do this sort of thing with a student, but when I took that oath I never even imagined I would teach such a beautiful and smart and amazing girl like you."

"I can't stay away from you," he finished, now nearly whispering. Hermione took his words to heart. He had thought she was beautiful, and amazing, and smart. No man had ever said anything even remotely that sweet to her. Her silence forced him to continue.

"Can't you understand, Hermione? Me being a teacher complicates things I know, but I'd quit my job for you, I'd do something else. Hell, I'd work at McDonald's for now if it means I can be with you," he said. His hand moved over to lay on top of hers, but she reluctantly pulled hers out of the way, no longer able to stop the tears from falling.

"Hermione, please," he said, grabbing her hand and squeezing it, "this is what I want."

Hermione looked up at him and pulled her hand out of his. "Ron, I know that you may feel this way, but the truth is you know you won't quit your job, you know it's not what you want, you love teaching, and I would never force you to stop doing something you love."

"I love being with you, more than anything, even though I'm not supposed to. And right now you're making it really hard for me to do that," he said, leaning down so he could see her face. Hermione shook her head no back and forth several times before speaking.

"Ron, in 5 months time, I'll graduate, and you'll never see me again, why can't you just accept that?" she said, wiping away a tear.

She knew what Brian and Anita would say if she blew her cover. If Ron would quit his job, questions would be asked, and she was sure something about her would come up in the matter, and she'd be found out, and she couldn't risk it. Besides, in 5 months time she could "graduate" and tell Ron the truth, and things would work out, right?

"Because, God damnit, Hermione, you--" he said, trying to keep his voice down, as they were sitting in the waiting room at a hospital, surrounded by several other people, including children.

"You make me crazy," he admitted. "I can't think when I'm around you. I read books, I read poems, I watch movies, wondering if you've read them or watched them. And I lay in my bed, wondering what you're doing, who you're doing it with, and how badly I want to just be with you every second of every day," he said, he too now trying to keep the moisture from his eyes.

Hermione tried to block out every word he had said. But she couldn't. Knowing he felt this way about her was so scary to her, knowing someone else in the world was thinking about her all the time. But not scary in a bad way, just scary in the fact that she'd finally found the one, but she couldn't be with him.

Hermione wiped away the tears on her face and finally looked at him, trying to keep her face straight. "I think you and me just need to be a teacher and a student. We need to forget about the last few months and just start over, a clean slate. As if none of this ever happened. Okay?" she said, now beginning to fumble awkwardly with her hands.

Ron looked over at her. "I pour my heart out to you, and you just want to forget it happened?" he said, glaring at her. Hermione whimpered as she began to speak. "You know as well as I that this thing between us can't happen, it just can't!" she said.

"SO WHAT THE HELL WAS I, A FUCKING GAME? HUH?" he yelled, standing up, pushing his chair over, and leaving the waiting room. Hermione watched him as he left. She heard the _ding _of the elevator, knowing it was Ron. She had never seen him lose his temper like that. The men and women in the waiting room glared at him, as most of them had children sitting next to them. Hermione was now crying into her hands, she didn't dare look at anybody in the waiting room as she knew most of them were probably staring at her now that Ron had gone.

"Hermione?" said someone from the entry to the waiting room. Hermione jerked her head up. It was Joshua. His suit was stilll black and white, no hint of red on it, unlike Hermione's dress, which had gotten blood on it from not only kneeling down next to Harry, but also from comforting Ginny, neither of which Joshua had done.

"Hi, Josh," said Hermione, as Joshua lifted up the chair that Ron had knocked over, giving Hermione a questioning look as he picked it up and sat in it. "What's up with Mr. Weasley, he pushed me out of the elevator. He looked really pissed," said Joshua, sitting in the chair next to her. "Nothing, he's just upset about what happened. His sister and Harry had a thing, which he didn't know about, and on top of that he has to worry about that and the fact that his sister is depressed," said Hermione. "Oh," said Joshua, scratching his arm.

"Did they find your brother?" asked Hermione, trying to change the subject. "No, they're still looking," said Joshua, looking dejected, "they think he might have ran off into the woods somewhere, they've got dogs and stuff out. My parents arrived at the school an hour ago, but I just couldn't stay, I had to see if you were okay," he said, placing his hand on hers. Hermione tried to smile at him, looking down at their hands. "Hopefully Mr. Weasley will forget about the little incident that happened back at school, I don't think I can afford to get in trouble again," said Joshua, chuckling.

Hermione smiled for a moment. "Yeah, hopefully. And I know you must be upset about your brother, but Ginny said he was probably still drunk and he didn't mean to do it, so he shouldn't be charged too harshly," said Hermione. Joshua looked at her. "I know, I heard her tell her story to the police before she left for the hospital. I'm just glad Harry didn't die, luckily Mr. Weasley was able to save him, he could be a doctor if he wanted," said Joshua. "Good thing he knows CPR, the doctors said air wasn't getting to his lungs, Ron saved him," said Hermione. Oh great, another pro to add to her list of things about Ron, he had saved a life.

"Yeah," said Joshua. He seemed to want to say something. He opened his mouth several times, but then closed it again. Hermione smiled. "Something you want to say?" she asked. He squeezed her hand a little tighter and spoke, trying not to sound too nervous.

"I really, really enjoyed what happened earlier. You're so...sexy and gorgeous, and I know right now, in a hospital, and after everything that's happened, its not the most romantic time or place to do this, but...uh..." he said, and at that he pulled out a small, velvety box he had in his pocket. Hermione gasped. He couldn't do this. Not now.

"Hermione Granger," he said, opening up the box, revealing a pair of stunning diamond earrings with a matching necklace, "will you be my girlfriend?" he asked, smiling at her. Hermione was too lost for words. The jewelry was gorgeous, so gorgeous in fact that it reflected off the light in the waiting room and hurt her eyes when she looked directly at it. It must've been expensive.

"Joshua," Hermione said. She took the box from his hands and ran her fingers along the earrings and the necklace. She seriously considered taking it for a moment. She liked Joshua, a lot, but just not in the way she was supposed to.

"I'm sorry, Joshua," she said, handing the box back to him. "I want to say yes, but..." she said, pausing for a moment, starting to cry again. Why must I be so emotional? she thought to herself . "I just can't," she said. Joshua closed the box and put it back into his pocket. He placed his hand back on hers. "I'm going to do everything in my power to make you see that we belong together," he said.

Hermione smiled at him. "Okay," she said, feeling lame as she could not think of a better response. "Miss, we have some clothes for you," said a nurse. She was holding a pair of jeans and a short sleeved pink button up shirt. "Go ahead, I'll be waiting here," said Joshua to Hermione, kissing her hand before she got up.

Hermione thanked the nurse and went to the bathroom to change. The jeans were a size too big, so she figured she'd be pulling them up quite a bit, but the shirt fit her perfectly, and looked quite nice on her. As she came out of the bathroom, the nurse came up to her and took the dress from her.

"We'll send that to the dry cleaners for you, so you don't have to carry it around, just give us your information to give to them," said the kind nurse. Hermione followed her to the desk and gave her name and phone number to give to the dry cleaners.

"Hermione!" came Ginny's voice. Hermione looked over as Ginny came back through the ICU doors. "He's fine, he's talking and everything, he just has a huge bald spot on the back of his head, and he's a little woozy, but other than that he's perfectly fine," said Ginny very quickly, hugging Hermione.

"I'm so glad, Ginny," said Hermione, noticing that Ginny had also changed out of her dress and was wearing jeans and an oversized t-shirt. "They said only one visitor at a time, Cho's with him now, he didn't know what he was going to say to her, but he said he's mine Hermione, he's mine!" Ginny cried, smiling and crying at the same time.

Hermione smiled as they released each other. "I'm so happy for you!" said Hermione. Joshua joined them, walking up slowly towards the desk. "How is he?" he asked, addressing Ginny. "Fine, fine," said Ginny, pulling Hermione back through the doors to ICU.

Harry's room was down the hall on the right. They got to the door and looked in. Cho was standing to one side of his bed. "You can go in," said the nurse from behind them. Hermione looked at Joshua, and he nodded. "Go ahead, Ginny, I think you three need to talk," said Hermione. Ginny breathed heavily and walked in. Hermione and Joshua stood at the door, waiting for someone to come out so they knew the conversation was over.

"I want you to know something, Joshua," said Hermione, as they heard Cho crying and saying something they couldn't make out. "Yes," asked Joshua, leaning against the wall next to her. "I think you and I would work well together, because, well, I know you're a really nice guy, and I wanted to say yes. But there's someone else," she said, looking down. "Someone else," he said, shaking his head as if he understood. "Someone who is waiting for me," said Hermione, looking down the hallway at the doors to ICU, hoping to see Ron there.

"It's okay, really," said Joshua, as Ginny said something very loudly from inside the room. They stood there for a few more minutes, Joshua taking her hand and squeezing it a few times, just smiling and leaning against the wall.

They heard sobs getting louder and Cho ran out of the room, her hands over her eyes, and through the doors that led back to the desk and waiting room. Hermione and Joshua walked inside the room. Ginny was sitting on the side of Harry's bed next to him, holding his hand and they were talking happily.

Hermione smiled as she walked inside the room, Joshua at her side.

"She's really cut up about it, but she'll get over it," said Ginny happily, clearly showing she didn't care about Cho at all. Harry was looking at Ginny somewhat dreamily, clearly still loopy. "Hi," said Joshua, sticking his hand out to Harry. Harry shook it and smiled goofily. Ginny laughed at him, stroking his hair with her hand and smiling at him. Hermione had never seen her so elated. She wondered how Harry had managed to break up with Cho, as he was so out of it.

"I'm sorry about what my brother did to you, he's a good man. He just doesn't do well with alcohol," said Joshua. "It's okeee, I just hit my head a little," said Harry. Ginny leaned forward and kissed the top of his head. Hermione could just see a small patch of his head that was hairless. It made her giggle a little. "I called my parents, they said I could stay here for the holidays, unless Harry's going to be out in time, then he can come and visit tomorrow for Christmas with me," said Ginny. "Oh, that's wonderful," said Hermione. "And I told them you'd come too," said Ginny, addressing Hermione, as Harry begin making weird noises with his mouth.

"Oh, um, wow, you know that's great, but I kind of was going to..uhm," said Hermione. "Oh, please, please, please, I already told mum and she already started preparing the rooms for us, please," said Ginny, giving Hermione the puppy dog face. Hermione had been considering visiting Brian and Anita and Alex over the holidays to talk strategy, and going to Ginny's house for Christmas and New Year's meant seeing Ron more than necessary. But then again it would mean spending more time with Ginny, and getting to meet her family.

"Yes, of course I'll go, I'd love to meet your family," said Hermione. "Alright, I'll call her and tell her, she'll be so excited!" said Ginny, kissing Harry on the cheek and running out of the room, her cellphone in her hand. "Well, I think we should get back to the school, I have to pack," said Hermione. "Yes, we better go. I want to find out if they found Elliot," said Joshua, putting his hand on Hermione's back to lead her out of the room. "Goodbye Harry, see you at Ginny's," said Hermione, waving at Harry.

She waved goodbye to Ginny as they left. Hermione called a cab to take them back to the castle. They walked inside the schools door, only to find that the dance was over, and a few policemen were standing in the entrance way, talking to the principal. "Did you find my brother?" asked Joshua to one of the policemen. "No, not yet, we've still got men searching, your parents are on their way home, they didn't want to stay," said the police officer. "If it's okay, I'd like to ask you a few questions about your brother," said a detective who was standing nearby. "Do you think it could wait? I'm really tired, I'm not thinking straight, I think I should rest. Can it wait until after Christmas?" Joshua said. "Sure, I understand, we'll be in touch," he said to Joshua. Joshua nodded.

"Come on, I'll take you to your room," said Joshua. He led Hermione to her and Ginny's room. Several students were sitting in the hallway, some drunk and some just talking to their dates. A few couples were kissing, some looking as if they were eating eachother's faces. "Well," said Joshua as they reached her door, "I hope you have a good Christmas."

"You too," said Hermione, smiling at him. "Look, I know you said someone's waiting for you, but uh..." he began. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a miniature mistletoe and held it above their heads. "We don't want to break tradition do we?" he said, smiling at her. "What, so you just carry mistletoes in your pockets all the time?" asked Hermione chuckling. "Only when I'm on a date with a beautiful girl, said Joshua.

Hermione sighed and leaned towards him. She gave him a peck on the lips. "Thank you for being here for me tonight, you're a great friend," said Hermione, hugging him. She released him and he left as Hermione stepped inside her room and began packing and preparing for what she was about to face:

An entire week and a half in the same house with Harry and Ginny, who would most likely be together the entire time, Ginny's mom and dad, who would probably want to know Hermione's life story, Ginny's other 5 brothers, who would probably either put the moves on Hermione or annoy the crap out of her, and worst of all Ron, who practically hated her guts now. Not to mention the fact that Brian would be calling her every 5 minutes for updates and how the dance went.

Yes, things were getting pretty crazy for Hermione, and she didn't know how much more she could take.

* * *

_You all might be asking, where are Brian, Alex, and Anita in all this? Well, they're there. And I know I haven't mentioned it, but Hermione has been wearing her camera the entire time, except for one part of the night, but you'll find out why later. Brian, Anita, and Alex will either be in the next chapter or the chapter after that. I think most people would rather read about Ron/Hermione and Harry/Ginny rather than Brian, Anita, and Alex. Also, you may be thinking, Ron administered CPR to Harry? Ew. But I'd think a teacher would do anything to save a student, so please don't think that what he did was inappropriate, it was simply a teacher saving a student. Sorry for scaring anybody with the whole "He's dead" thing, but I think the scene was necessary to show how much both Cho and Ginny love Harry, and it is also scene that starts the beginning of Harry and Ron's eventual "friendship"._


	10. A Simple Kiss

"Dinner was lovely, Mrs. Weasley," said Hermione setting her fork down. "Oh, thank you dear," said Mrs. Weasley, finishing off her last bite of chocolate cake. The 9 Weasleys and Hermione were crowded around their kitchen table, all finishing their dessert and holding their stomachs, full of turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, beans, and many other dishes Mrs. Weasley had cooked. Ginny had had her cell phone out the entire time, texting Harry. "Ginevra, put your phone away!" said Mrs. Weasley to her daughter.

Ginny reluctantly put her phone in her pocket. "Harry should be here tomorrow," she said, as the entire table had become silent. "Well then you can talk to him then," said Mrs. Weasley, beginning to clear away the dishes. Ginny gave her a mother a dirty look, which Mrs. Weasley luckily did not see. "So, Hermione, we hear you have Ron here as a teacher. How's he doing?" said Mr. Weasley, helping Molly to clear the dishes. Hermione looked over at him. She had been squeezed in between Ron and Ginny, and the entire time during dinner Ron had made sure their elbows did not bump.

"Oh, he's very good, I'm learning a lot from him," said Hermione, smiling at Ron. "He's had a few problems with a few of his students, they say he grades too harshly," said Mr. Weasley, as Ginny's other brothers started up a conversation of their own. "Oh, um, I think he grades quite fairly," said Hermione, looking over at Ron. He was stony faced and unresponsive. "Is she a good student then, Ron?" asked Mr. Weasley.

Ron stood up quickly, causing the table to come off its legs on one side for a moment. Everyone at the table became silent, curious as to why Ron had just nearly sent the dishes to the floor. "Dinner was great mum, but I have to excuse myself," he said, walking around the table and disappearing up the stairs. "What the bloody hell was that about?" asked Fred, one of Ginny's brothers. Hermione looked into her hands. "No idea," she said quietly. Charlie, another of Ginny's brothers looked over at Hermione oddly, but then looked away when her eyes met his.

"Ginny, Fred, George, would you mind doing the dishes? Percy and Bill, will you take the garbage to the dumpster in town? And Charlie I want you to get out containers to put the leftovers in," said Mrs. Weasley.

"I'll help Mrs. Weasley," said Hermione, standing up from her chair. She wanted to do anything to keep her mind off of Ron. "Oh, no, dear, you are our guest, I wouldn't dream of asking you to help clean up," said Mrs. Weasley, patting Hermione on the shoulder. Hermione smiled. She wanted to avoid Ron, but she felt in the way downstairs, as everyone was running around and trying to clean up. She walked up the stairs slowly, trying to savor the time she had in which Ron wasn't looking at her as if she were a monster.

After all of the food and eggnog Hermione had had, her bladder was about to explode so she went to the bathroom, taking her time to wash her hands thoroughly. She opened the door to the bathroom and jumped at the sight of him in front of her.

"Can we talk?" he asked, stepping back to allow her out of the bathroom. "Um, sure," she said. She led him to her room. Hermione sat on her own bed while he sat on a spare chair in the room.

"I've never seen my brother act like that," said Charlie, bringing his hands together. Hermione tucked her hair behind her ears. "He's never been the most pleasant bloke, I'll admit that, but he's never done anything like he did tonight," said Charlie. Hermione began to speak. "Why are you talking to me about this?" said Hermione, shifting uncomfortably. Charlie chuckled. "I'm not as stupid as I look," he said, leaning forward closer to her.

"I have two theories. One, he completely hates your guts. You're a devil and a miscreant in his class and he can't stand you," he said, smiling at her. She chuckled a little along with him. "Two," he said, leaning back in his chair, "the bloke is completely head over heels in love with you."

Hermione looked at him, swallowing loudly and trying not to show him a face that would show she knew what he was talking about. "I'm not really sure--" she began.

"Look," said Charlie, "I'm not a blabbermouth. I'm not going to tell anyone if there's something going on between you two. You're 18, you know what you're doing. If you were any younger I'd have to say something, but even at your age, there are consequences both you and Ron will have to face if you're found out," said Charlie.

"Charlie, look, I'm flattered by your concern, but honestly, Ron probably just wasn't feeling well or something, it had nothing to do with me," said Hermione, standing up to leave. Charlie grabbed her arm. "Please, just sit. If it were me I'd want to talk to someone about it," said Charlie. Hermione sighed and sat back down on the bed.

"I know I'm his brother, so don't give me any gorey details, just tell me what's going on," he said, ready to hang on her every word. She _did _want to talk to someone about it, she just never thought it would be his brother. Charlie had been the kindest one to her since she'd been there, unlike Ginny's other brothers, who had been putting the moves on her all day.

"We kissed, that's it," said Hermione, trying to make it plain and simple. "When?" asked Charlie. "Last night, he caught me kissing someone else and decided to get me in trouble for it, so he took me to his office, and it just happened," said Hermione, momentarily distracted as she dreamt of his lips being on hers once again.

"Who exactly were you kissing?" asked Charlie. Hermione considered not answering, but knew she had to tell him the truth as he was being so kind to her. "This guy named Joshua, it's Ginny's ex Elliot's brother. The truth is I kind of planned it," said Hermione, shifting uncomfortably. Charlie raised his eyebrows. "You planned it?" he said, cracking his knuckles.

"Well I was with Joshua, and he was kissing me and everything. I didn't really want him to, but when I saw Ron I just got this urge to make him jealous, so I started kissing Joshua back. I led Joshua upstairs to his room, hoping Ron would follow. At first I thought he hadn't, and I was scared I'd have to come up with some way to get out of what I had gotten myself into, but eventually he got there and caught me and Joshua on the bed. He made me come to his office and said he'd deal with Joshua later," explained Hermione. Charlie just sat there processing the information.

"Did you ever think it was a bad idea to do it? You know, to try and seduce a teacher?" said Charlie, looking over at her. "I wasn't trying to seduce him, I just wanted to make him jealous. I never thought we'd kiss," lied Hermione. Charlie was very good at reading people. "Righht," he said sarcastically. Hermione sighed.

"Okay I did, and I knew I wanted to, I just never thought he'd go along with it. He kept telling me that it couldn't happen, but when I kissed him he kissed me back. And it was wonderful, but Harry must've gotten hurt around that time because that's when the girl came to get Ron," said Hermione.

"Well, how far did you two go? And once again, spare me the gorey details," he said, chuckling slightly. Hermione smiled. "Well my dress was off, and only his dress shirt was. And I didn't want to stop. He was kissing me and..." Hermione said. She looked down at her hands. "...think," she finished.

Charlie was smiling at her. "Well, holy shit," he said, biting his lip as he smiled. Hermione smiled back. "What?" she asked. "My brother's found the one," he said. "I wouldn't be so sure, he hates my guts now because I told him we can't be together," said Hermione. "He won't feel that way when you two can actually be together in 5 months," said Charlie, trying to cheer her up.

At that moment, and she didn't know why, Hermione actually considered telling Charlie the truth. In their one conversation, she had connected with him so differently than she had with Ginny or anyone else at school. He understood her, and he was so easy to talk to about Ron. Blowing her cover at that moment would not help with anything, and she knew that Charlie, though accepting as he may be, might pressure her to tell everyone the truth if he knew that she wasn't really a student.

Hermione shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe," was all she said. Charlie scratched his head for a second, revealing several bruises and cuts on his arms. According to Ginny he worked at facility that was training army dogs, so it wasn't odd for him to come home with bruises, cuts, or bite marks.

"I wish it was that simple," said Hermione. "What do you mean?" asked Charlie, looking curiously at her. "It's more complicated than you think," said Hermione, wiping away a tear. Charlie stood up off the chair and sat down next to her on the bed. She barely knew this man, but soon she was hugging him and crying into his shoulder.

"Hey, hey, it's going to be okay," he said, rubbing her back. "On the plus side, I already think of you as my sister," he said into her shoulder. Hermione smiled. "You're so easy to talk to," she said, kissing him on the cheek. They heard a noise from in the hallway and turned to see who it was, but no one was there. Charlie stood up and walked to the doorway, looking each way before shrugging and coming back inside.

"Well I better go, mum thinks she can still ground me if I don't listen to her," chuckled Charlie, staying near the doorway. "Okay," she said. She stopped him before he exited the room. "Hey Charlie," she said before he could leave. "Yeah?" he said, turning back around. "Thank you," she said, smiling at him. "No problem," he said, turning and disappearing out the door.

Hermione lay down on her bed and tried to calm down; she didn't want to go back downstairs looking like a blowfish.

"I can see you've already moved on," he said, appearing in her doorway. "What are you talking about?" she said, sitting up on the bed and looking at him. "My brother, Hermione, really?" he said, and he disappeared up the stairs. She jumped off the bed and ran out the door and up the stairs to catch up to him.

"What the hell are you talking about?" she said, going up the stairs alongside him. "Don't play dumb. I saw you hugging him. And kissing him," said Ron, reaching his door and pushing it open. "I kissed his cheek, and what, now I can't talk to any guy anymore?" said Hermione, following Ron into his room. "I never said that, I just can't believe it, I really was just a damn game to you," he said.

"YOU WEREN'T A GAME!" cried Hermione, walking over to Ron. He was standing and looking outside one of his windows that looked out across the empty field. Hermione stood directly behind him. He turned around quickly, glaring down at her. "Yes I was, and you know I was. I loved you, Hermione, I really did," said Ron. Hermione glared back at him. "You actually think that I'd play with your emotions like that?" cried Hermione.

"I don't really know, Hermione. I thought I knew you! I thought I figured you out! But as soon as I thought I did you pull this shit!" he said, his face becoming red with anger. "What are you talking about?" cried Hermione, as Ron paced back and forth in front of her. "I thought you loved me, you acted like you did. You wanted to be with me and I wanted to be with you! I thought I was making it obvious. But when I tell you I'll give everything up to be with you, you say no and that it won't work!" said Ron, fuming with anger.

"It's not right!" cried Hermione, her eyes moistening. "Why not?! I don't care, Hermione, I don't care that I'm your fucking teacher, because if I have to give that up to be with you, then I will. That's how much you mean to me!" he said, starting to calm down.

Hermione was so confused by what he was saying. "One minute you hate me and you want me to leave and the next you tell me you love me, Ron! What do you expect me to say? Why are you doing this?" she cried, wiping away the tears. "Because god damnit, Hermione, I want you. I can't think when I'm around you and you confuse the hell out of me. I don't know what to say because one minute I want to be mad at you and the next I just want to...to...," he said, unable to finish. But there was no need for him to. She knew what he wanted to do with her was exactly what she wanted to do with him.

Hermione looked down, trying to stop her tears. Her fists were clenched into tight balls. Seeing Ron like that, seeing him so angry, listening to him pour his heart out to her like that, made her whole body tingle. She pretended she was glued to the floor, that way her feet would not be tempted to move toward him. She couldn't do it, she couldn't give him what he wanted, not yet. He had to wait, he just had to. She wrapped her fingers around the sweater Mrs. Weasley had knit for her and clenched it tightly. It was hard to control herself around him.

Ron was leaning against the wall, breathing heavily and trying to control himself. "Hermione, please, just kiss me again," he said, practically begging. Hermione did not move or speak. She just looked at him. "What?" she asked, her mouth slightly open. "Kiss me," he said, taking a step towards her. Hermione once again said nothing, did nothing. She waited for him to say something else. "I need to know what it feels like again, I need to know...," he said, trailing off. "I need to know," he repeated, taking another step toward her.

Hermione's feet were glued to the ground. He walked slowly towards her, unable to wait for her permission. She kept her hands by her sides, her fists still clenched together, pretending they were glued there too. He placed his hands on her face, his thumbs wiping the wetness away from her eyes. He leaned closer to her.

_Glue, glue, glue!_ she had to remind herself as he placed his lips on hers. His lips were slightly dry, not as wet as they had been last night. His hands wrapped around her back and rested there lightly. His tongue never surfaced. It was just a simple kiss.

His body moved closer to hers, his chest pressing against her breasts. Hermione shed another tear as he pulled away, removing his hands from her and putting them back down by his sides. Ron looked down at the ground as Hermione could only stand there. He walked back over to the window and looked out of it, staring. At what, Hermione did not know. He was just staring. She was left standing there, unable to move, wanting so badly to kiss him again, to throw him onto the bed, to make love to him. The urge was worse than ever now. It was amazing what a simple kiss from Ron Weasley could do to a girl.

* * *

_So the chapter ended a little differently than I'd planned, but I'm really happy with where it went. Both Ron and Hermione are so confused, as Hermione is conflicted as to whether or not she wants to risk her job for him, and he doesn't know whether or not what they had was real or if she was just messing around with him. The next chapter will have Anita and Brian in it. Once again, I'm sorry I haven't included them. I'm so happy writing about Ron and Hermione I just don't want to write about anything else. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will hopefully have a new one ready for next week. Thanks for reading and please review!  
_


	11. Secret Meeting

The Next Day

"Yes, Joshua, you don't need to worry about me," said Hermione, tracing the stitching in her comforter with her finger. She had been on the phone with Joshua the last 10 minutes, reassuring him she was fine and he didn't need to come see her. "Yes, yes, I'm sure," said Hermione, smiling.

Ginny walked into their room at that moment, carrying some of her laundry. "Hey, Joshua, I'll talk to you later..... Okay, bye," said Hermione, sliding her phone closed and putting it on her bedside table. "What's up?" said Hermione, watching as Ginny opened her dresser drawer and put a few of her shirts in it. Ginny didn't speak for a moment, but finally turned around. Her face was paler than usual.

"I feel terrible," she said, walking over to Hermione's bed and sitting next to her. "Are you sick?" Hermione said, shifting on the bed so that she was facing Ginny. "No, it's about Harry, and Elliot, I mean technically I'm still with Elliot," she said, looking dejected. "But you don't want to be," said Hermione, trying to get Ginny to cheer up. "That doesn't make it right..." said Ginny.

"Ginny, Elliot nearly killed Harry. You have every right to forget about him and get what you really want," said Hermione. "That's the problem," said Ginny, "I think I may still have some feelings for Elliot."

Hermione looked up at Ginny. There were no tears in her eyes, for now atleast.

"I mean, he may have hurt Harry, but I still love Elliot. I know I shouldn't though," said Ginny, finishing and playing with a loose thread on Hermione's comforter. "It's not easy to fall out of love," said Hermione, knowing this for a fact.

"I know, but he hurt Harry! He nearly killed him! And, I hate to admit it, but I still want him," said Ginny, picking at her nail. Hermione bit her lip, trying to think of a suitable response. "He was your first love, Ginny," she began.

"I know, I know, Hermione!" she said, jumping off the bed in frustration. "I still love him and I love Harry as well, I don't need you to state the obvious, I need you to tell me what to do!" cried Ginny, leaning against her dresser.

"Ginny, you know I can't. It's not my decision. You have to decide what you want to do. I know it might seem crazy, but I think once Elliot is found, you, him, and Harry need to sit down and talk," said Hermione.

"Are you crazy?" cried Ginny. "Elliot nearly killed Harry. You think Harry's just going to sit down in the same room with him and have a nice chat?" she said sarcastically.

Hermione sighed. "Well, then, you need to figure this out on your own. I don't know Harry very well, but it seems as if you have two very wonderful and caring men who love you to pieces, and it's just one of those moments when you have to make a decision. You have to decide what you want," said Hermione, realizing she needed to take her own advice for once.

Ginny looked at her and breathed in and out heavily. "I love them both, I really do. They're both wonderful in their own way. I thought I was so sure that I wanted Harry when I was with Elliot, but now that I'm with Harry, well with both of them, I'm not so sure," said Ginny, looking down. Hermione did not speak. There was not much to say. She needed to let Ginny figure it out herself.

"I know what Elliot did was wrong. I shouldn't have feelings for him. If he had done it purposefully it would be different. But he was drunk. If he hadn't been I'd blame him for it. And he didn't mean to hurt Harry that badly, he only meant to punch him," said Ginny, talking more to herself than Hermione. "I agree Gin, he's still a good guy, despite what he did," said Hermione truthfully. "Yeah," said Ginny, closing her eyes and sighing loudly.

"Look Gin, I know you want me to tell you what you should do, but if I tell you what to do and it's not what you really wanted, I don't want to be the one to take the blame," said Hermione, standing up off her bed. "I'm going for a walk, I'll be back soon," said Hermione, grabbing her shoes and jacket. She threw her phone in her jacket pocket and exited the room. Ginny watched her go, thinking to herself what she was going to do the next time she saw Elliot.

Hermione walked down the stairs, wondering what she would say to Ron next. After the kiss last night, Hermione had managed to unattach her feet from the ground and move slowly out of his room. Ron had only continued to stare out the window, unable to look at her. She wished she would have said something. But what could she have said? That she loved him? That she was sorry? That everything was going to be easy? No, she couldn't have. Because that wasn't true. She did love him, and she was sorry, but from now on nothing was going to be easy. Absolutely nothing.

Hermione had fallen in love with her teacher, Ronald Weasley, something she had never expected to do while on the job. She didn't expect to become attracted to him, or to anyone else for that matter. She hadn't planned it. But she couldn't deny her feelings for him. She could to him. But not to herself. She needed to keep her job more than anything. But was her job worth breaking Ron's heart? Her thoughts were, sadly, interrupted.

As Hermione descended the stairs, her cell phone began ringing. "Hello?" Hermione asked, bringing the phone to her ear. "Granger, you better have a good story pitch for me, right now," said Brian loudly. Anita's familiar giggling could be heard in the background. Hermione smiled. "Brian, I'm kind of busy right now," said Hermione, opening the door and stepping into the night.

"Not anymore you're not," said Brian, and then someone suddenly grabbed Hermione and dragged her into the woods. "What the hell are you doing?" cried Hermione, turning her phone off and shoving it back into her purse. "Granger," said Brian, who was hiding behind a tree along with Anita, who looked more beautiful than ever, wearing a knit purple hat and a matching scarf.

"Brian! If someone sees you my cover will be blown!" cried Hermione, turning and making sure no one was looking out any windows. "Granger, you haven't called in forever," said Brian. "Well, I've been busy, what with everything thats been happening," said Hermione, referring to preparations for the dance, and what had happened with Harry. "Granger, I understand you're getting involved in your 'high school life', but your real life, and your real job, are more important. Not one damn pitch Granger, not one!" said Brian, rubbing his hands together.

Hermione glared at him. "Brian, give me time, please," said Hermione. "You've had months, Granger," said Brian. "Stop calling her Granger, she has a name!" declared Anita, who had been watching the other two converse for the last two minutes. "All right, _Hermione_, you've had months," he said, looking at Hermione. "I know Brian, but I need more time. I was expecting to come home for Christmas break and conjure up some ideas, but Ginny invited me here and I couldn't say no. She's become a really good friend," said Hermione, trying to do her best to defend herself.

"Granger, I don't care," said Brian, using her last name once again. "This is your first investigate report. You need ideas, and you need them soon," said Brian, glaring at her. "Fine, fine, but I should go," said Hermione, turning to leave.

"Oh, no, we're not done yet," said Brian, grabbing her arm and pulling her back. "What?" asked Hermione, looking at him and pulling out of his grasp. "So in the past few days, have you noticed something that's, I don't know, missing?" he said, his tone very sarcastic. "What are you talking about?" asked Hermione, staring at him. "Well, here's a hint," said Brian, "look down."

Hermione looked down at her feet. She had no idea what he was talking about and looked back at him questioningly. Brian raised his eyebrows and looked at her. "Camera!" he said, sighing loudly. The word hit Hermione like a knife. She had completely forgotten about her camera, and the last time she remembered putting it on was the night of the dance.

"Brian, I-I don't know where it is, it could be on my dress, but I don't remember seeing it on my dress when I was at the hospital. I hope I didn't leave it on there, it'll go through the dry cleaners..." said Hermione, looking at Brian and Anita nervously.

"Oh, no, don't worry, it's not," said Anita, who was now playing with her nails. "We've been watching the footage, and the screen is completely black," said Brian. "So you mean the cameras dead, or broken?" said Hermione. "No, the camera's on. Everything's working fine," said Brian, leaning against a tree. Hermione looked back at the house to make sure no one was watching or coming outside. "I don't understand," said Hermione honestly. Brian sighed again, as if he was trying to explain a simple procedure to a little kid.

"It's on, but we think something's covering it up," he said. "But wait, you guys had to have seen the last place I was, or the last thing I saw, what was it?" asked Hermione. Brian grunted. "_Someone_," he said, glaring at Anita, "forgot to hit record on the VCR during the meeting, so we have no idea. We didn't get any of your footage from the dance."

"Oh, Brian, it was an accident," muttered Anita. Hermione smiled at her, quite glad that it had happened, as Brian would most likely have suggested a story about Ron or Joshua. "Look, I'll find the camera Brian, I promise," said Hermione. Just then, Hermione heard someone open the door to the kitchen. "Go!" she cried, and pushed Brian and Anita back further into the woods.

Hermione watched as the pair disappeared into the woods, and then she hid behind the tree to see Ginny come outside. She was bundled up in her jacket and looking all around as if searching for someone. Hermione began to think it was her, so she stood up and prepared to walk forward to show Ginny she was around, when someone came up behind Hermione.

"We'll talk later," said the person, and he walked in front of Hermione and she saw that it was Elliot. Hermione couldn't believe it. He knew. He had heard the conversation between Hermione, Brian, and Anita. Elliot knew she wasn't a real student. And the police still hadn't found him. So he was still on the run. Ginny must have arranged to meet up with him secretly.

Elliot walked forward and brought Ginny into a close embrace, pulling her into the woods near where Hermione was. "I'm so sorry, babe," he said, putting his hands on her face as her back pushed gently into a tree. Ginny grabbed his arms with her hands and spoke. "I know you didn't mean to do it, I know," said Ginny. He moved forward quickly and placed his lips on hers. Ginny's fingers stayed wrapped around his arm as he kissed her. Hermione could tell she was trying to resist the kiss, thought not physically, emotionally.

Her hands stayed locked on his arms for a moment before she wrapped her arms around him. A soft moan escaped from Elliot. They pulled away after a moment, and Hermione stayed deep in the shadows, watching the pair. "I still love you, Elliot," said Ginny, and Hermione could tell she was beginning to cry, as her voice became different. "I know, babe, I know," said Elliot, pushing himself closer to her.

Ginny looked down, still crying, as he wiped away her tears. "I slept with him," said Ginny, "And I'm sorry. I shouldn't have. I'm just so confused. One minute I love you and the next...I just don't know," said Ginny, looking down and crying harder than before.

Harry was coming to the Burrow tomorrow. Ginny had told Hermione excitedly earlier that day, very happy she'd get to spend more time with him. Hermione didn't know what she was going to do. Seeing Harry, who would be so happy to see Ginny, was going to be difficult, as Hermione would be tempted to tell him what she had just seen.

"I know, babe, I know," said Elliot, placing his hand on her cheek. Hermione then realized just how much Elliot loved Ginny. She knew he had felt something for her, and that he had told her he loved her numerous times. But Hermione could definetley see it now. He loved her so much, and Hermione could tell Ginny loved him too.

"Please, Elliot, turn yourself in, I'll tell them that truth, I'll tell them Harry fell and hit his head, you won't get in trouble for that. But if you keep hiding you will get in trouble!" cried Ginny, running her hands through his hair. "I will Ginny, I will, but not now," he said. "Please!" said Ginny, "I really want you to."

"Not now," he said, pulling her closer to him and taking in her sweet scent. He placed another kiss on her lips, and she wrapped her arms around him, moaning softly. "I gotta go," he said, pulling away from her. "No," she said, as he tried to pull away. She pulled him back to her and jumped into his arms, placing her lips on his and wrapping her legs around him. Elliot held onto her and kissed her back. He pushed her away from him. "I don't want to get caught," he said, setting her back down on the ground.

Ginny was struggling, Hermione could tell. She could see the want and need on her friends face. _Oh, the complexities of teenage romance, _thought Hermione to herself. Elliot kissed her one last time. "I love you," he said, and disappeared out of sight. Hermione watched Ginny, who was still crying, slide down the tree into a sitting position on the ground. She continued to cry for a few more minutes. Hermione watched her friend struggle, nearly crying herself.

Ginny loved Harry, and Hermione knew it. After all, she had lost her virginity to the boy. But she still loved Elliot. And she wanted both of them, equally, Hermione believed. Hermione wanted to help her friend, she truly did. But she too now slid down onto the ground and sat there, tears beginning to fall. This job had messed everything up. Her love life was now so messed up she didn't know if things would ever get better.

"What do I do?" asked Ginny. At first Hermione thought Ginny had seen her, but instead she looked and saw that Ginny was looking up at the sky. "I love them both, so much," she said, wiping away a tear. "I want both of them," she said, crying harder. "Please, just-just t-tell me what to d-do," she said, struggling with her words.

Hermione cried for her friend. And she cried for herself as well. She waited until Ginny finally stood up and walked into the house before standing and walking towards the house.

"Hey!" someone shouted softly. Hermione turned. Elliot stood in the woods, watching her. Hermione sighed and walked back to him. "What?" she asked. "We need to talk," he said softly, and pulled her back into the woods with him.

* * *

Sorry it's taken so long to update. I've had writers block.

Anyways, yes. Elliot's meeting Ginny secretly, and now he knows Hermione's secret. The next chapter will get really interesting as Harry will return and Hermione will talk to Elliot about what he heard. I'm sorry Ron wasn't in this chapter, I just feel like other things are going on. More Ron/Hermione next chapter! :)

Keep reading and please review!!


	12. Drop It

Hermione sighed, rolled her eyes, and walked back to meet Elliot. "What the hell were you guys talking about?" he asked, referring to Hermione, Brian, and Anita. "Nothing, it's none of your business," said Hermione, "and besides I think you need to worry about whether or not you're going to jail."

She folded her arms across her chest and smiled sarcastically at him. "I know I'm probably going to jail. But I'm more interested in your conversation," he said truthfully, staring her down. Hermione shifted uncomfortably on the spot and looked down at the ground.

"Why? Why are you so interested? It doesn't concern you," said Hermione, glaring at him. When he didn't answer she spoke again. "Look, Elliot, I'm going back inside. If you follow me, Ginny's parents will take you to the cops," said Hermione, and with that she turned and began walking towards the house. "If you don't tell me what's going on I'll tell Ginny what I heard!" said Elliot from behind her. Hermione stopped dead in her tracks. She turned back to face him. "You can't!" she said, walking back towards him.

"Then tell me," he said, now the one to fold his arms across his chest. Hermione sighed. "I can't Elliot, just...please, I know you hardly know me, and that I didn't exactly treat you right at school, but I just can't tell you. I'm sorry for the way I treated you, but I'll be in deep trouble if anyone knows my secret," said Hermione, biting her lip and waiting for his response.

"Hermione, I have no problems with you. I know you didn't like me much at school, but you're Ginny's friend, and I love Ginny, so I want to get along with you," Elliot began. Hermione was taken aback. Was this the same Elliot who had groped Ginny all over the place at school? It couldn't be.

"Maybe I can help," he said simply, looking over at her. Hermione looked at him oddly. "Elliot, I understand you're trying to help, but telling someone will not help me. It'll make things worse, and I don't think telling _you_ is my best option right now," said Hermione. "Hermione, come on, I can help you. And if this involves Ginny then it involves me too. I don't want to see her get hurt, and if the secret you're hiding will affect her in any way I want to know," said Elliot, breathing heavily.

_Wow_, thought Hermione to herself. _Elliot really does love Ginny. A lot._ The emotion on his face was so visible when he spoke about Ginny. He was deeply and madly in love with her, and Hermione could not help but feel sorry for him. He loved her with everything he had, and Ginny had cheated on him and lost her virginity to Harry Potter. Ginny had weaved a tangled web.

"Elliot," said Hermione, placing her hand on his arm, "please, if you love Ginny, you won't push this. Believe me when I say that I can't tell you, and that in the end I want to tell Ginny myself," said Hermione. "But I heard something about a camera that you had lost or something," he said, racking his brains to remember the bit of the conversation he had heard.

"Elliot, drop it, please. I know you want to know and I know you want to protect Ginny. But just trust me when I say that you'll find out....you will, I promise," said Hermione, letting go of his arm. Elliot rolled his eyes. "Don't hurt her," he begged, "_please_."

His last word seemed like a whisper to Hermione as he fled into the night, disappearing through the trees. She looked down and held back tears, desperately wanting to tell someone about her assignment. But Elliot wasn't exactly the ideal person to tell, _was he_?

She sighed loudly and walked back inside. She figured Ginny had went back upstairs as she saw her nowhere downstairs. Mrs. Weasley was in the kitchen, starting to prepare dinner. "Oh, Mrs. Weasley, let me help you with that," said Hermione, rushing forward to grab a few pots from Mrs. Weasley's hands. "No, no, no, dear, I won't hear of it. You're our guest," said Mrs. Weasley, dodging Hermione's attempt to take the pans. "But I--" Hermione began. Mrs. Weasley's put the pans on the stove and turned back to face Hermione. "I won't hear of it," she repeated, smiling at Hermione.

Hermione smiled back and turned to go upstairs. "Hermione, dear, would you stay a moment?" said Mrs. Weasley, turning on the stove and getting out a cans of vegetables and potatoes to cut. "Yes, Mrs. Weasley?" said Hermione, leaning against the counter.

"First, I just wanted to tell you how happy I am that you're here. Ginny's never brought home a friend before," said Mrs. Weasley, seeming honest. "That's hard to believe, she's very popular at school," said Hermione. "She's never felt close enough to anyone, or trusted anyone so much, Hermione. And I know she's very close to you and trusts you greatly. I think you're the best friend she's ever had," said Mrs. Weasley, smiling at Hermione.

Hermione suddenly felt very hot in her jacket. A tiny drop of sweat fell from her forehead. Her guilt was overcoming her, and she could barely listen to anymore. "Oh, Mrs. Weasley, I'm sure that's not---" she began. "Oh, but it is dear," interrupted Mrs. Weasley, "I've never seen her so close to someone else. And I think you two will be friends for a very long time. I think Ginny trusts you the most of anyone she knows. She thinks very fondly of you," said Mrs. Weasley. Hermione couldn't stand it.

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley, but I have to go to the bathroom," said Hermione, dashing up the stairs, passing Fred, George, and Ginny, who were all coming down the stairs. Ginny had clearly continued crying, as her eyes were still very puffy and her face was as red as her hair. She smiled at Hermione as she passed her. "Going to help with dinner," she said, "come down soon." Hermione smiled and continued on up the stairs. Her guilt was growing.

She entered Ginny's room and closed the door behind her, taking her jacket off and sitting on the bed, putting her head in her hands. A soft knocking sound met her hears, and the door cracked open.

"Miss Granger?" came someone's voice. Hermione stood up off the bed when the man entered. He was rather tall and skinny, and had an amazing head of very light blonde hair that seemed to sit on his head perfectly.

"Draco Malfoy," he said, shaking her hand. "Hello," said Hermione, completely baffled as to who he was or why he was there. "Mrs. Weasley sent me up here. I'm a detective investigating the attempted murder of Harry Potter," said Draco Malfoy. "Oh, um, of course," said Hermione, sitting back down on the bed.

Draco chose to sit in the chair. "If I could I'd like to ask a few questions," said Draco, getting out a small notepad and a pen. "Sure," replied Hermione, trying to get comfortable on the bed.

"Had Elliot ever appeared violent or abusive while you were at Hogwarts?" he asked, getting right to the point. "Oh, um, no. He seemed really nice, and kind. I didn't fancy him much but he didn't seem like a bad guy," said Hermione, trying to sound genuine. "And did he ever seem forceful with Miss Weasley?" asked Draco, his head down to the paper but his eyes up at her.

"No, he seemed rather, er, calm with her I guess you'd say," said Hermione, biting her lip. Draco sighed. "Miss Granger, if you are trying to protect him, don't. We need to know anything we can, and we also need to know where this man is. He's been gone for too long and we're starting to wonder if we'll ever find him," said Draco, scribbling something on his notepad.

"He's been gone for nearly 24 hours... and you've talked to Ginny. She told you that it was an accident, that Elliot didn't mean to hurt Harry, and begging your pardon, but I feel that you should be putting all of your efforts into finding Elliot, not badgering me about rubbish like this. Elliot is a good man, a really good man. He loves Ginny, and he knows Ginny loves Harry. The man was drunk for Christ's sake. Had he known what he was doing he probably wouldn't have even hit Harry," said Hermione, spitting out everything she was thinking at the moment.

"Thank you for your time, Miss Granger," said Draco as he scribbled something else down on his pad. "That's it?" asked Hermione as Draco stood and walked toward the door. "Well it's obvious you do not want to be bothered, so I'm going to go speak to Mr. Weasley," said Draco. "Ron?" Hermione asked. Draco looked down at his notepad, flipped the page, read something on it and said, "Yes."

"Oh," said Hermione absently, and she watched him leave the room. She lay on the bed, wishing somehow things would change, but she knew they wouldn't. Things were so screwed up at the moment, and everything was getting messed up.

Both Harry and Elliot love Ginny, and Ginny loves both of them and can't seem to decide who she wants. And Hermione wanted Ron so bad it nearly killed her to refuse him. She lay there for hours and hours, until, finally, she managed to fall into a deep sleep.

* * *

Author's Note: YAY! Draco! I love him to death. He's such a sexy beast! lol.

To be honest I did not really like this chapter all that much. It wasn't very fun to write but it was necessary. So anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading (even though I didn't enjoy writing it lol) and please leave a review. The more reviews I get the faster I will update!

I will be publishing a new story similar to this one (with better writing hopefully) very soon. I feel like this one is somewhat rushed and some of the plot twists are just...odd. Nevertheless I will continue this story and finish it out, but I will be posting the new story hopefully in the beginning of April. I hope you will check it out when it gets published and please leave a review if you like it better than this one! And no, the ending to that one will not be the same as this one. A MAJOR plot twist will be in the new story, so make sure you check it out.


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